Dragon Ball Kai
by Saiyan Son
Summary: Frieza and Planet Vegeta did not cross paths. With the Saiyans set to arrive on Earth at some point, will our heroes be ready for when they do? AU.
1. A Boy Named Goku

**After some time I finally decided to write this story. **

**As you can see from the summary, there will be major changes to canon. I also plan to make the power levels on Earth much higher than they were because some of them made no sense, like how King Piccolo and Kami were pathetic when compared to the average Namekian. I also want to make the human characters relevant so they will get a boost.**

**That's that. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to leave a review with your thoughts. Should I continue this or is this a lost cause?**

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 1**

**A Boy Named Goku**

"**The excitement is extreme in this year's World Martial Arts Tournament!**"

At the words of the announcer, the crowd gathered around a ring roared and cheered eagerly. Battles at the tournament were legendary and this year's did not disappoint.

"**Now for our final quarter final match! Goku vs. Giran!**"

Cheers erupted from the crowd again as the two contestants stepped into the ring, instantly drawing mixed response. Some laughed at the very clear difference in size between the two fighters, while others expressed concerned for the boy about to face a hulking beast. Even the announcer appeared to think that the fight was one-sided, as his tone became more serious.

The announcer visibly swallowed a lump in his throat, clearly nervous about the fight that was about to start, but he had a job to do so he gathered himself and put on his excited face.

"**Begin!**"

* * *

Computer screens lined up in a dark room lit the area with flickering artificial light. Two men sporting lab coats and masks, sat before the screens while typing rapidly. So engrossed in their job, they didn't acknowledge a person loudly stepping into the room.

"This place is as depressing as always."

Typing seized as the two man turned to the owner of the voice, one very annoyed looking Saiyan.

"Ah, Bardock. What could someone like you be looking for here?"

Bardock frowned. Truth be told he never liked coming to the Research Center, not only was it the only place in Planet Vegeta that attracted all the odd kind of Saiyans, but the building itself was dark as hell on the inside. With all the bright pictures coming from the screens, it was no surprise that they had to wear those odd masks with dark glass covering the eyes.

"My son Raditz is returning today," he finally spoke in a gruff voice, "I'd like to know his power level."

At the request, one of the Saiyans went back to typing while the other stared blankly at him.

"I see no problem with the request but I couldn't help but notice that this has become a pattern. Saiyan parents are deeply concerned about the power level of their offspring, myself included, but you seem to be going further beyond that."

Bardock scoffed, "It's none of your business. Now tell me. Our space pods should check the power level with no problem right?"

"Of course," the masked Saiyan responded, almost offended. Keen on showing this barbarian of a Saiyan that his technology was top notch, he typed a few commands on his keyboard and the information came out with no trouble. "W-What?!" Unable to keep the surprise out of his voice, the masked Saiyan turned to Bardock, "His power level has elevated a lot. It is now at 5,000."

"Good," Bardock smirked, pleased with the progress of his eldest.

With Raditz showing promise, as well as his own power level raising higher every day, he knew that their family would become powerful. His wife, Gine, was not the warrior-type but she still managed to grow a bit stronger. All that was left was for his last son, Kakarot, to come home and get stronger.

Speaking of which, Kakarot should be done purging his first planet in a couple of years.

* * *

As it turned out, today the spectators at the martial arts tournament were in for a treat.

Not only did the kid up against a big scary beast put up a good fight, but just when it looked like he was about to fall out of the ring, a mysterious cloud swooped down at his call and safely took him to the ring.

"That cloud might have saved you before but now that you can't use it you're done for!" Giran said with a laugh before swinging his large fist at the boy.

A harsh wind picked up from the mere swing of the arm, but it didn't make contact, in fact there was no sign of the boy.

"What?" Giran let out dumbly before feeling a pull on his arm.

"Hahaha!" Goku laughed while hanging from the beast's arm by his newly grown tail.

"**Contestant Goku has avoided doom by a **_**tail**_**?**"

"Alright!" The boy exclaimed happily while gazing at his new tail fondly. "I've always felt stronger with my tail!" He dropped down from the arm and struggled against his restraints, "Now!"

"It's hopeless kid," Giran said arrogantly, "No one can break free from my – What the hell?!"

With a loud snap, the restraints came off.

"Wow! I really am stronger now!" Goku grinned. He began to jump in place with an excited smile, "Let's see what I can do now." Without even preparing himself, he threw a punch that instantly went through the wall leading out of the ring, and even knocked down a palm tree just by the shock wave of the attack.

Giran, the announcer, and the crowd; all at once dropped their jaws to the floor while the clueless boy smiled and dropped into his fighting stance with renewed vigor.

"Wait," Giran gulped. There was no mistaking that the boy was several leagues above him now. Pluse now that his most powerful technique was rendered useless, the match was pointless. "I give up."

"Huh?" Goku whined with a downcast expression.

"**Giran has forfeited the match! The winner is Goku!**"

With the announcer's words came the deafening roars of the crowd.

Ignoring their cheers, Goku crossed his arms with a pout, "Oh man, I really wanted to keep on fighting..."

* * *

The tournament was raging at full blast.

Incredible matches one after the other took place. Newcomers Goku, Krillin, Jackie Chun, and Nam ended up making it to the semifinals after rather exciting matches, though the last match of the victor Nam, was exciting for all the wrong reasons.

In any case, the first of the semifinal matches had ended. Young Krillin and the veteran Jackie Chun had had an interesting match but it the old timer seemed to have control the whole time. To the restless crowd, it looked like no one would be a match for the older man, surely there was no way anyone could beat his experience.

"**Now to our second semifinal match. Nam vs. Goku, the kid who beat the mighty Giran!**"

The two fighters entered the arena at the mention of their names. While the boy flashed a smile as usual, the other contestant looked as serious as always.

"**Let's get down to it! Let the battle begin!**"

At the call for action, both fighters chose to stay still and study the other. While Nam was looking for any openings, Goku was thinking of new ways in which to attack when a thought hit him.

"Oh I know! I'll use the move Jackie used!"

Nam didn't have time to wonder what he meant since the boy flickered out of view, leaving behind a fading copy of himself. Before he could wonder where the boy had gone, his instincts screamed at him to move and he did just that by jumping back just in time to dodge a punch.

"I was sure I'd get you with that one," Goku lamented in a confused manner.

_'For him to learn a move so quickly just by watching... There's no way he's an ordinary kid. I can't waste any time, I have to beat him for the sake of my village!' _Nam nodded to himself and charged in at the boy, letting loose a flurry of kicks that were invisible to the naked eye.

However, Goku could easily see the attack thanks to his training. He wasted no time in doing his best to dodge most of the blows and block those that managed to get through his defense. This went on for a few moments, both fighters moving through the ring, until they finally parted for a quick breather.

"**Amazing, these are no ordinary fighters ladies and gentleman!**"

Goku looked at Nam carefully before breaking into an all out sprint towards him. As expected, his opponent dropped into his own fighting style but, not giving him time to counter, Goku jumped in the air and twisted his body to deliver a strike to the man's face with his tail. Stunned by the odd but painful attack, Nam staggered backwards and was struck with a barrage of kicks and punches from his young opponent.

Nam could do nothing as his body took punishment until the boy ended his attack with one last kick that sent him flying across the ring.

"**Incredible! Young Goku has sent Nam flying!**"

The older opponent gritted his teeth as he landed at the edge of the ring with a thud. _'I must defeat the boy quickly. He's too dangerous, specially that tail of his... There's no choice but to use my ultimate attack.'_

Goku chuckled to himself. He couldn't wait to see what Nam would do next. He'd been really fun to fight.

Nam got on his feet and shot up through the air at a high speed with one mighty jump that rendered everyone speechless.

"**Look at him go! Contestant Nam looks like a torpedo from here!**"

_'Forgive me boy, I don't wish to hurt anyone but for the sake of my village, I must,' _Nam's momentum came to a halt, his attack was ready. Forming an X with his arms, he dove down towards the boy with deathly accuracy as well as speed.

Goku watched as Nam grew closer and closer while leaving himself wide open. "In that case," the boy grinned and gathered energy at his hands, "Kame..."

"**The two fighters look like they're going to end it all with their next move!**"

"Hame..."

Nam let out a battle cry as he closed in on the boy.

"HAAAAA!"

From Goku's hands came a blue beam of energy that knocked the older man awa and sent him flying through the air with sizzled clothes. The boy put up a peace sign as Nam landed outside of the ring, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"**Amazing! Incredible! Contestant Goku has won the match!**"

The crowd went wild and cheered for the smiling boy who stood victorious on the ring.

* * *

Contestant Jackie Chun – in reality none other than Master Roshi wearing a disguise – backed away from the giant beast that Goku had transformed into. So this was why his pupil's friends had been afraid when they saw him grow a tail.

With a frown, he noticed that a good amount of the initial crowd watching the tournament was still there. Those idiots probably didn't realize the danger they were in. Even so, he wasn't about to let them die, and if he didn't do something quick it looked like they might be killed by his roaring pupil.

"I have no other choice..."

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes in concentration, the Turtle Hermit tapped into his real power and slowly released it with a grunt. Wind began to blow harshly in the area as he focused on bringing out his real strength. His muscles trembled before they began to grow in size as the old man pushed himself further and further until, with a final grunt, he was finally at full power.

To the remaining crowd, watching the old skinny man transform into a large muscular one didn't have the impact it should. Then again, they just witnessed a small boy transform into a giant roaring ape.

Master Roshi let out a breath as he got in position and gathered ki on his hands.

Watching the battle with their friends, Yamcha was the first to realize what the old man was about to do.

"D-don't tell me he thinks he has to kill Goku!"

"What?!" Bulma let out in concern, "You have to stop him! Tell he just has to cut Goku's tail!"

Yamcha didn't need to be told twice and bolted towards the ring, "WAIT!"

"Kame..."

The Great Ape swung its fists to the side with a roar, causing large gusts of wind that knocked trees aside with ease.

"Hame..."

Filled with nothing but horror as he watched the blue energy appear on the man's hands, Yamcha pushed himself to go faster but realized it was to late, "NOOOOO!"

"HAAAA!"

Blinding light engulfed the area as a massive shock wave knocked everyone back.

"GOKU!" Yamcha screamed as he was knocked back by the force of the blast.

After a few moments, the aftereffects of the blast died down to reveal that only Jackie remained.

"**This has been an amazing battle!**" The announcer yelled into the microphone, "**Jackie Chun has become the champion.**"

"He's no champion, he's a murderer," Krillin cried out with tears in his eyes.

The rest of Goku's friends; Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar all grieved their friend in tears, and were angry at Jackie over what he did.

"Calm down," Jackie waved them off before things escalated, "Look closer."

Everyone looked closely at the rubble on the ring.

"A tail!" Krillin, being the first to notice, exclaimed happily.

"No, a very naked boy," Oolong pointed out to the amusement of the whole crowd.

Sure enough Goku lay in the rubble without his clothes, sleeping peacefully as if nothing had happened.

"Will you count already!" Jackie scolded the announcer, bringing him back to his senses but before he could begin to count, Goku opened his eyes and stood up, looking disoriented. "Why did you wait so long before counting?!"

"Huh?" Goku rubbed his head. Did he fall asleep in the middle of his fight? Looked like it. But still, it didn't look like he'd been disqualified. Smiling, the boy dropped into his fighting stance, "Let's finih this Jackie."

The announcer smiled, "**Looks like the battle for the championship is still going!**"

Instead of cheering, the crowd began to laugh at the clueless naked boy on the ring.

"**On second thought, would someone please give contestant Goku some clothes?**"

"On it!" Krillin ran to his very confused friend and gave him his own outfit to wear, tail-hole included.

Goku wasted no time in getting dressed, eager to continue his match against Jackie.

"So what's it like being a giant monster?" Krillin suddenly asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Goku responded, looking confused.

"The big monster you turned into," Krillin repeated as he put on the spare clothes he brought with him, "What did it feel like turning into it?"

Goku cocked his head to the side, making Krillin sigh in defeat and drop the subject.

"Forget it. Now go win the championship."

"Yeah!" Goku grinned and returned to the ring much to the glee of the crowd.

"**Now let's continue with the match!**"

Both contestants stood still, neither wanting to make the first move. Some moments passed like this until Jackie relaxed his stance and smiled.

"Looks like we're pooped kid."

"Pooped? But I don't need to go to the bathroom."

"Not that _pooped _you idiot!" Jackie exclaimed in aggravation but quickly regained his composure, "I meant that the two of us are out of energy."

"Oh..." Goku finally got it and nodded his head in agreement. He _really _felt like sleeping – no – he would rather go eat something, he felt hungry.

"So let's skip the fancy attacks and go with good old martial arts."

The boy grinned, "Okay. No energy attacks."

With that decided, the two charged at each other and engaged in an exchange of punches and kicks that were hardly visible to the eager audience. Neither had the advantage, both landed several punches but received some in return. In all honesty, no one had any idea who would win.

Even Master Roshi himself was beginning to think that he might end up losing but he couldn't allow it. He _needed _to show Goku that no matter how much stronger he got, there would always be someone out there that would match or surpass him. This wasn't a fight to become champion, but to teach his students to be humble.

The two jumped away, deciding on a small break, which gave Jackie the time to make a suggestion, "Hey kid. There's no use in pushing ourselves any longer. What do you say we end this fight with one final attack?"

"Okay, but I won't lose," Goku grinned weakly before he ran at the man for the last time, with Jackie doing the same.

Both jumped at the other at the same time and clashed with powerful kicks that met their marks. However, while Jackie landed a solid hit, Goku's only grazed the older man on the chest, and sure enough once they both fell Jackie was the only one that got back up, young Goku falling unconscious as soon as his body hit the ground.

"**Jackie Chun is the winner!**"

* * *

On the day after the tournament Goku was all smiles, specially after having a great dinner and a nice sleep. After losing the final match, one would think that he'd be depressed, but it was the opposite. Goku couldn't wait to train and meet other strong people.

So, as he stood outside the hotel with his friends about to part ways, he couldn't help but smile in eagerness at the things that would be waiting for him.

"I have taught you both everything that I can," Master Roshi told his students, "Follow your own path from now on. The two of you should train yourselves."

"Yeah," his two students chorused.

"In that case I'll go look for Grandpa's Dragon Ball," Goku decided with a smile, earning looks from his friends.

"Does that mean you're leaving on your own?" Bulma asked, feeling a bit sad about parting with her friend again.

The boy nodded and glanced at a confused looking Krillin.

"Hey Goku. What's a Dragon Ball?"

"It's a gift my Grandpa left me before he died."

Oolong crossed his arms, "Well, be careful out there Goku. We'll see you around."

"Yeah," Puar agreed.

"No worries," Goku smiled and turned to Bulma and Yamcha, "What about you guys?"

"We're going to West City," Bulma answered with a smile.

Yamcha nodded while casting a glance at the old master, "We could give you a lift home if you want Master Roshi."

"No, it's okay. I still have to do some shopping," Master Roshi responded, though no one knew what _shopping _meant to someone so eccentric.

"Hey Master, did you put my things on this thing?" Goku pointed at a suitcase, earning a nod. "Well then, I'm leaving on the nimbus." Smiling, he looked up at the sky, "Nimbus!"

At the call, the yellow cloud arrived in mere moments.

"I'll see you guys later!" Goku waved with a smile and jumped on his cloud.

"Take care Goku," Yamcha said with a brief wave.

"Come visit sometime," Bulma smiled.

"Bye guys!" With one final wave, the nimbus was off, flying through the skies at a fast speed. As the wind ruffled the boy's hair, he pulled out the Dragon Radar and searched for the nearest ball, "Okay. Looks like the closest one is still a bit far away. Let's go Nimbus!"

* * *

**Power Levels:**

Goku – 1,500

Goku (Tail) – 1,700

Goku (Great Ape) – 17,000

Goku (Weakened) – 100

Goku (Zenkai) – 3,000

Krillin – 1,300

Yamcha – 1,500

Master Roshi – 2,500

Master Roshi (Full Power) – 9,000

Master Roshi (Weakened) – 100

Nam – 1,000

Giran – 900


	2. Red Ribbon Army

**Thanks a lot for reviewing guys, I'm glad you're liking the story. So here's the new chapter. This one covers the Red Ribbon Army but rather than tell it slowly, I will be brief with it and leave some things out. Mostly because I don't want to tell the same story all over again so that I can get to where I diverged from the original storyline sooner.**

**Also I forgot this on the last chapter but I have changed the ages up a bit. Here are the current ages. I'll update it on the incoming time skip.**

Goku – 9

Krillin – 10

Bulma – 15

Yamcha – 16

**So that's it, hope you enjoy and don't forget to drop a review.**

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 2**

**Red Ribbon Army**

As he continued to search for his Grandpa's Dragon Ball, Goku ended up running into all sorts of trouble. Those Red Ribbon Army guys would not leave him alone and appeared to be everywhere he went. How they did that he didn't know but he was starting to think that maybe they had a Dragon Radar as well.

The boy pushed those thoughts aside from now as he ran up a flight of stairs up the Muscle Tower. These people had Suno's dad and other innocent people, forcing them to find the Dragon Ball. He had to find the Dragon Ball too of course but after Suno saved him from freezing to death and even gave him some warm clothes, the least he could do was help her dad.

Coming to the end of the flight of stairs, Goku found himself in a large circular room where a giant man stood with a blank look on his face.

"Intruder. You will die." Came the cold voice of the weird man.

"You're not the first to say that," Goku grinned as a fist descended on his small form, but he easily dodged the attack and delivered a kick to the man's side only to grunt in pain. "Wha! What are you, made of metal?"

He received no answer and, caught off-guard by the very weird man, was flung across the room until he hit the wall headfirst. The boy fell on the floor and frowned.

Loud slow footsteps closed in on him while he crossed his arms in thought.

Whoever this guy was, should really think about leaving these Red Ribbon guys. Someone so strong shouldn't be doing bad things like those guys.

The footsteps stopped and the large figure loomed over the small boy.

As a foot with the intention to flatten him on the ground came down on him, Goku pushed against the floor with his two hands, sending himself in the air, and flipped his body to land safely on the ground behind the giant man. Now free to attack, he brought his hands to his side and prepared to attack.

"Kamehameha!"

The blue energy attack shot out of his hands and met it's mark, engulfing the form of the giant man and even taking out most of the room's wall. Soon the harsh air came in and made the boy shiver but when he saw what his attack did, his eyes widened in horror. The giant man no longer had a head!

"I didn't mean to do that! I just wanted to beat him!" Goku let out in concern before hanging his head in shame, "Sorry..."

His horror was short-lived though as the giant man moved even without his head, taking a couple of steps forward before throwing a punch. The surprised boy was so out of it that he could do nothing to defend himself and ended up sailing across the room again.

Goku was on his feet almost immediately, his face reeling with shock, "W-What's wrong with you?!"

The boy swallowed a lump in his throat and took on a fighting stance, ready to attack the hulking figure that remained still, as if studying him. Eyes fixed on the enemy, Goku became aware of the fact that the giant man wasn't studying him, the thing simply stopped moving.

"Huh?" Confused, he went over and tapped the thing on the leg, causing it to fall over. "Well... I guess I won."

With that he continued to the stairs.

* * *

Goku gritted his teeth as a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. It really wasn't often when he was stumped on what to do during a fight, sure he'd been overwhelmed before, but he was never put in such a frustrating situation before.

After meeting Eighter, a good guy that helped him go further up Muscle Tower, the two of them had ended up facing some giant pink monster. Since Eighter was so strong, Goku though that the monster would be no problem, but neither of their attacks did anything to the thing.

_'He's way too flabby and bounces off my attacks. If only he was firmer then I could...' _He blinked when an idea began to form, _'Of course!'_

Smiling, he moved to the room's wall and punched it, leaving a large gaping hole on the wall. Almost instantly the freezing air raged into the room making Goku and the pink monster tense up at the unbearable temperature.

Hugging himself with tattering teeth, Goku turned to Eighter to see him look like nothing was wrong. "Hey, aren't you cold?" His voice took an accusing tone.

"Oh. I am not affected by temperature so I'm fine."

That was convenient.

"Move over then!" Goku, finally unable to bear the cold, jumped into Eighter's jacket.

Meanwhile the giant pink monster grunted loudly as its body slowly began to freeze. Its flabby skin became cold and hard until it finally could not stand anymore and shattered into pieces.

"It worked!" Goku cheered with a laugh.

* * *

With the Red Ribbon Army gone from the cold village, Goku had left the place with his Nimbus, promising to return one day. Now he had another thing to do on his search for his Grandpa's ball. He wanted to get all the Dragon Balls so that the Red Ribbon Army did not make whatever wish it wanted.

On his quest to stop the Red Ribbon Army, Goku had to go through several fights until he finally attacked them head on in their base. Their weapons were no big deal and soon enough he found himself standing before the last of the army, one Officer Black.

"I will gather the Dragon Balls myself and make a real wish!" Black declared angrily, still seething at the fact his boss had wanted to make such a petty wish. To become taller. Hah! What a joke of a man. It was a good thing that he was dead now.

"You won't," Goku declared with a confident smile, "You Red Ribbon Army bad guys won't get what you want. I'll make sure of it."

Officer Black laughed at that, "Real brave of you but can you say the same after seeing this?!"

With a laugh the officer jumped out the window. At first Goku wondered what the man was thinking but the answer came quickly as the side of the room was completely torn off by a giant metal hand.

"Ha! Ha! How do you like my Metal Jacket!"

Goku took a couple of steps back when seeing the giant red robot, that's what Bulma had called things that looked like that, the officer had gotten into.

"Now you will die! You insolent pest!"

Officer Black laughed as he carelessly destroyed the buildings of the base with every step of the giant robot.

"NIMBUS!" Goku jumped high in the air as his yellow cloud appeared and took him closer to the giant robot.

Black swung wildly at the boy but wasn't able to land a hit as the nimbus maneuvered through each attack, at least until the Metal Jacket let loose a barrage of missiles. That's when Goku, not wanting a repeat of what happened last time, jumped off his Nimbus and pushed his hands forward.

"Ha!" A white-clear force shot out of his hands, halting the trajectory of the missiles and making them explode near the giant robot. With that done, Goku flipped through the air and landed safely on the ground, his eyes watching the black cloud of smoke carefully.

Seeing movement, he quickly jumped high in the air just in time to dodge a punch that tore through the ground. However, now in the air, he was not able to react quickly enough when the robot jumped and delivered a kick that sent him crashing against one of the base's buildings.

"Finally got you!" Black laughed.

Goku emerged from the rubble with a glare.

_'I can't let him win now. There's no telling what he'll do if he keeps that metal thing!' _

Filled with a renewed sense of duty, Goku brought his hands together and began to gather all of his energy.

"Kame..."

Gritting his teeth and closing his eyes in concentration so that he could put everything into the attack, the blue orb began to form on his palms though it was a darker blue, unlike the usual whitish-blue.

"Hame..."

Officer Black laughed and began to walk to the boy, confident in the Battle Jacket being able to take whatever attack the boy could dish out.

"HA!"

The familiar wave was unrecognizable. This one was not only darker, but it erupted from the boy's hand with such ferocity that it didn't look like the same attack.

"Fool! That won't do anything!" Black continued to laugh but just when the attack was moments away from the machine did he think that the attack looked dangerous.

The blue ki attack easily pierced the Battle Jacket on its center, causing a chain reaction that caused it to explode and leave behind a massive cloud of debris. Soon the Kamehameha died down and Goku put his hands down, a wave of exhaustion washing over him.

It was over.

No.

Not until Upa's father, Bora, was alive again.

Goku felt his eyes begin to close and decided that maybe he should take a small break before heading to find the last Dragon Ball.

He was snoring before he even hit the ground.

* * *

Master Roshi could not believe it even though he had seen it. Been there.

After hearing about Goku planning to fight the Red Ribbon Army all by himself, he and the others had agreed to go help him. However, what they found was not the base of the army, but a deserted base with destroyed buildings and a large crater near the center of the place.

At first they wondered if Goku had transformed but when they found him sleeping nearby, his clothes still on, they knew that it wasn't the case. His young disciple had vastly improved in just a couple of months. At first he'd been afraid that he'd have to teach his student to be humble all over again but when he woke up, grinning from ear to ear and telling them that he would find the last Dragon Ball in order to revive the father of a friend, he knew that he was mistaken.

Goku was still Goku.

Watching him fly on the Nimbus next to Bulma's ship, he knew that his student was well into the right path. Who knew how far he would go.

* * *

**Power Levels:**

Goku (Zenkai) – 3,000

Goku (Korin's Tower) – 4,000

Goku (Angry) – 5,000

Major Metallitron – 3,200

Eighter – 3,200

Buyon – 2,500

Officer Black – 1,500

Battle Jacket – 4,000

* * *

**Short chapter I know but I mostly wanted to get this one out of the way. I did think about going through the whole thing slowly at first but decided against it since it is mostly unchanged except for Officer Black's Battle Jacket being from the anniversary special rather than the normal one.  
**


	3. Gone

**Thanks a lot for reviewing guys, I'm glad that you're liking the story.**

**There are some things that will change a lot from the original, like when the Saiyans arrive on Earth. This is going to be because unlike before when there were only a handful of Saiyans left, they have a much better grasp at where they all are. **

**Also the high power levels are intentional. But don't worry, not only the good guys are going to be stronger, the Saiyans are much stronger than in canon, as Raditz was mentioned to have a power level of 5,000 on the first chapter.**

**I hope I cleared things up, and that you continue to enjoy. If you have any more questions then feel free to drop a review or send me a message, I'll try to clear things up; or if you want to send a suggestions then feel free.**

**Ages:**

Goku - 12

Krillin - 13

Bulma - 18

Yamcha - 19

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 3**

**Gone  
**

With only a month left for the Martial Arts Tournament, Goku was finally on the last leg of his training journey.

With the Red Ribbon fiasco over, Upa's father revived, and even meeting his Grandpa, the boy was sure he had gotten a lot stronger. Now it was finally time to meet his friends and the thought brought a smile to his face as well as a wave of eagerness. The urge to just get there already with the Nimbus was too great but he wasn't about to break his training just like that.

Laughing to himself in excitement, he continued to move through a large forest.

* * *

It was finally time.

The Research Center had finally sent a Recon Pod to the tiny planet Kakarot had been sent to purge. Not only a spare space pod in case the old one broke down, but the Recon Pod carried with it a robot that could scan power levels and fight. That way it could find any hidden living creatures that refused to die.

Bardock smirked slightly, he could finally train his youngest son and have the family on track to become stronger. Planet Vegeta was all about power, if anyone lacked it then they were doomed to live a shitty life, but it they had it then they only needed to worry about when they would be fighting next.

"You haven't stopped doing that since the pod was sent for our son," his wife, Gine, smiled when seeing the smirk.

The two were walking to their home among the busy streets of Planet Vegeta. If there was one thing that the Saiyans didn't lack it was appetite, which was why the food district was always full of Saiyans looking to buy meat.

"Just think about it. Once Kakarot is trained, then we can finally live the life we've always wanted," said Bardock, "Nothing but training and battles."

Gine rolled her eyes. She was just glad to finally have her son back after such a long absence. The time a Saiyan baby was to spend on a planet was determined by their power level which is why she had to wait so long for Kakarot to come home, unlike with Raditz who only took a handful of years. She really hated this custom, as she didn't like to fight unless she had to, but there was nothing she could do either. To go against King Vegeta was beyond foolish.

But this was not the time to think negatively. Her son was close to coming home after all.

"My little Kakarot," she muttered to herself fondly, remembering her tiny wailing baby that inherited his father's hair. "You'll be home soon."

* * *

After the reunion with his friends, Goku, now dressed in his usual red gi, walked with a bounce on his step to the World Tournament with Yamcha and Krillin at his side.

"I'm telling you the truth, you've gotten a lot taller kid," Yamcha pointed out when once again seeing the difference in height between Goku and Krillin.

"Yeah we get it," Krillin muttered a bit sourly, jealous at the fact that his friend had gotten taller than him.

"Everyone!"

The three turned to one of the workers on the tournament who held his hands at the side of his mouth, "The preliminaries will be starting soon. Hurry along."

"Let's go!" Goku cheered as he ran to the building.

* * *

This years World Martial Arts Tournament turned out to be even better than the last. Fight after fight, the audience was treated to an excellent show of strength. In the end, after beating Krillin and Jackie Chun, Goku and Tien were the ones to advance to the finals.

Their fight had been nothing short of amazing. Both moving so fast that no one could see and clashing every now and then, neither were letting up with their attacks. One moment Tien would have the advantage but then Goku would counter with a barrage of attacks that put them evenly matched again.

There had been the interruption of Tien's master, but that was resolved after Tien stood up against his teacher and Master Roshi ended things by sending the old man away with a Kamehameha.

So here they were now.

Goku still in his fighting stance watching as a focused Tien floated high in the sky with his hands forming a triangle.

"This is the end Goku! Tri-Beam!"

A massive mass of energy descended from the skies and crashed down on the ring, making everyone present shield their eyes from the bright flash. It took a few moments for people to recover and when they did they saw a perfectly square giant hole where the ring used to be.

"**That was incredible! But where is Contestant Goku now?**"

Tien had the same question but didn't have to wait long for an answer as he spotted the boy descending from the sky, probably having jumped high in the air just before his attack met its mark.

"It's over Goku. You can do nothing but fall now." Tien smirked, making the boy placed his hands at his side, "The Kamehameha? That won't do you any good."

"Kamehame..." Goku's attack took shape as he continued to fall from the sky and, much to the surprise of Tien, he flipped himself over and launched the attack on the opposite direction.

"What?!" Tien exclaimed in surprise as the boy was shot towards him at a great speed. Such was the speed that he didn't have time to react as Goku delivered a harsh headbutt to his stomach.

Never before had Tien experienced such a blow, one that left him utterly powerless. His eyes wide and mouth agape, he could do nothing as he fell from the sky along with Goku.

It seemed to take an eternity for the two fighters to fall and just when it looked like Goku would be the winner, Tien managed to hold himself up in the air just long enough for the boy to land on the ground exhausted.

"**Contestant Tien is the winner!**"

* * *

Exhausted after his fight with Tien, Goku had no objections to Krillin volunteering to go get his stuff while he and the others went to a restaurant to eat. The others had already dug in but, despite how hungry he was, he wanted to wait for his friend to come back.

…

It was there again...

For some time now Goku had been able to _feel _his friends. It was a strange way to put it but he was somehow able to know where they were if he was close enough. However this time it was very different. Unlike the other times he _felt _the others, this time Krillin's presence wasn't its usual calm but a hectic mess.

So he sat at the table with a concentrated look on his face as he tried to figure out what was going on.

_'Krillin...' _

His eyes widened as a gasp left his mouth. Before anyone could ask what was wrong, he bolted off his chair and moved as fast as he could towards the martial arts tournament.

_'I can't feel him!'_

Goku gritted his teeth, inwardly screaming at his body to go faster.

_'I can't feel Krillin anymore!'_

Ignoring the burning pain in his legs, Goku finally made it to the building only to gasp in horror. In the middle of the room with the announcer, was the body of Krillin.

"Krillin!" He cried out as he ran to his friend's side and knelt next to him.

"It was a monster," the announcer said in a trembling voice.

"Goku!" His group of friends arrived, all with worried faces that turned into looks of horror when seeing Goku holding Krillin's body.

"He's dead..." Goku said in a somber tone, "Krillin was murdered."

"A monster did it," the announcer repeated, "He took a strange ball and the list of the tournament's contestants."

"Poor Krillin," Bulma wiped away a couple of tears.

"Bulma do you have the Dragon Radar?!" Goku asked as he tied the Power Pole to his back.

"Y-yeah," she replied, taking out the radar.

Master Roshi was the first to catch on, "Wait Goku!"

It was useless as the boy took the radar from Bulma's hands and ran to the exit.

"I told you to wait!" Master Roshi yelled sternly but the boy ignored him, "I'm ordering you to stop!"

Goku was not listening as he ran out of the tournament, tears in his eyes and teeth grit together.

The times he spent with Krillin flashed through his mind, causing tears to roll down his cheeks before he looked to the sky and called for his Nimbus.

* * *

If there was one thing that Goku rarely felt, it was fury.

But as he watched the back of a green monster holding his Dragon Ball and a stack of papers, it burned him to the core. His eyes seethed in rage, his fists shook violently, even the hairs on his tail were standing from how much hatred he felt for the mosnter.

"Stop!" He yelled, making the monster look behind his shoulder.

"Oh? Who might you be?"

Goku ignored the question, "You did it! You're the one that killed Krillin!"

"Krillin?"

"Don't play dumb! You took the Dragon Ball and killed him!" Goku screamed.

"Now I remember. So the kid died huh? We should celebrate," the monster laughed.

Goku could have sworn he heard something snap as he jumped off the Nimbus and punched at the murderer.

"Too slow," the monster smirked while catching the punch easily and flinging the boy over his shoulder. It really should have done the trick but the yellow cloud caught the kid before he could fall.

Glaring at the monster, Goku used the Nimbus to get close and try to attack but every one of his attacks was dodged easily. Growing frustrated he tried to attack in any way he could, even lashing out with his tail but it didn't even faze the monster.

"This is getting boring. I have somewhere to be," the monster declared before flickering out of view and reappearing before the kid.

Goku let out a surprised gasp before the monster's fist dug into his stomach in a powerful punch that knocked all the air out of him. Teary eyes wide in pain, he fell off the Nimbus but just when it was going to follow after him, the monster blasted the cloud out of existence.

With that done, Tambourine of the Demon Clan continued on his way.

* * *

**Power Levels:**

Goku – 6,000

Goku (Weakened) – 1,000

Krillin – 4,500

Yamcha – 5,200

Chiatzu – 4,300

Tien – 6,000

Master Roshi – 5,500

Tambourine – 5,800


	4. King Piccolo

**What's up guys, here's the next chapter of the story. Thanks to all of you that read the story and add it to your favorites or whatever. **

**This will be the last condensed chapter since we'll start with my own story arcs from now on. There will be OCs but they won't be overpowered or anything, if they appear to be then please bring it to my attention so I can fix it. Anyway, drop a review if you feel like it, and I hope you like this chapter. **

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 4**

**King Piccolo**

After waking up in the middle of the woods and eating a giant roasted fish, Goku was completely healed. However it turned out that the fish belonged to a very angry boy that carried a Dragon Ball on his neck, his name was Yajirobe. He tried to tell the guy that holding on to the Dragon Ball would be nothing but bad news, with those strong monsters looking for them, but he didn't listen.

In the end, after going their different ways briefly, Goku followed his gut instinct and tailed Yajirobe until he was confronted by the same monster that had killed Krillin.

"Wait up Yajirobe!" He yelled while running towards them until he was between them, "Leave him to me. He'll pay for what he did to Krillin."

"You're alive?" Tambourine let out with a hint of annoyance that has concealed by his surprise. "I guess this time I'll have to make sure that you're dead."

Goku frowned, "I'm gonna make you pay for all that you've done!"

Tambourine laughed at that, "Really? Last time we fought you couldn't even touch me."

"I was tired and hungry that time, but now I'll beat you!"

The demon continued to laugh but the sound died in his throat when the brat disappeared from view, "What?" Before he could process what happened, an elbow connected with his face and sent him hurling through the air. Goku was above him in moments and kicked him on the back, sending him crashing on the ground.

The young Saiyan landed on the ground with a frown. "This," he placed his hands at his side and began to gathered energy, "Is for Krillin!"

Tambourine's face twisted in fear before he bolted from the area, using his wings to fly through the air to get away from the brat.

"Kamehameha!"

The demon turned his head only to see a giant blue light.

Goku let out a breath. He had finally avenged Krillin.

* * *

There was no way he could beat him...

Goku came to the morbid realization as he was struck on the face over and over again by a smirking King Piccolo. It didn't take a genius to know that there was a big gap between their strength.

"You will share the fate of anyone on this world who opposes me," King Piccolo laughed as he continued to attack the boy.

* * *

Yajirobe could hardly believe that he let himself be roped into such a mess just by the promise of food. Scaling a tower with an injured Goku on his back was beyond what he would ever do for a meal, he should just get back down and find someone else to take him up the tower.

Feeling Goku shift on his back and groan quietly, Yajirobe bit his lip and continued up the tower.

He wasn't about to say that he thought of Goku as a friend but he would help him up the tower anyway, he'd given his word after all. Besides, that meal he'd been promised was still waiting.

Forgetting about his earlier thoughts, Yajirobe moved even faster up the tower.

* * *

Not only Krillin now, but Master Roshi, and even Chiatzu...

Goku clenched his fists as he urged his new Nimbus to move even faster. With the power he had gotten after drinking the Ultra Divine Water, he would avenge his friends and end King Piccolo once and for all.

* * *

"Finish him off and make it as painful as possible."

Tien knew after hearing those words that there was no hope left for the world. With him died the only technique able to seal away the evil monster. No one else could hope to stop King Piccolo.

Sprawled helplessly on the ground as the large Drum approached him slowly, Tien knew that he had failed his dead friends.

_'Master Roshi. Chiatzu... Please forgive me.'_

Tien closed his eyes as he waited for death but then something happened. The sound of rushing wind, a loud impact, and then a thud.

"I...must be dreaming!" Tien exclaimed once he opened his eyes. He was staring at the back of none other than... "G-Goku."

"Oh," the boy turned with a relieved smile, "Tien, great to see you."

"Goku..." Tien repeated before breaking into a smile, "You're really alive!"

King Piccolo smirked at the sigh of the boy, "You're a persistent little runt. Next time I beat you I'll make sure you are truly dead."

"I might surprise you," Goku answered with a confident smile. "Hm? There's something different about you."

"Good of you to notice," King Piccolo smirked, "I've been rejuvenated. Let's just say that I'm somewhere between invincible and immortal now."

Tien frowned at that before he noticed something in alarm, "Goku! You have to leave this place!"

"He's not going anywhere," said Drum as he approached the boy, who turned to meet his eyes, "Not after he dared hit me."

"Goku you have to go! He's a lot faster than he looks!"

At those words Drum flickered out of sight and reappeared behind an unmoving Goku who instantly turned around and delivered a powerful kick to the monster's neck, killing it instantly. The boy landed on the ground and turned to meet the surprised King Piccolo's eyes.

_'His strength is phenomenal!' _Tien thought in pure disbelief, _'He finished him off in just one hit!'_

King Piccolo chuckled in amusement, "It seems you are stronger than I first gave you credit for. However, there is no way for you to even scratch me."

The tall evil monster walked towards the boy before chopping at his face but Goku easily blocked the attack with one hand. King Piccolo frowned and threw a punch with much more strength, but the boy caught him by the wrist and flung him over his shoulder, sending the evil King crashing against a building.

Goku smiled as he watched King Piccolo raising from the rubble, "That's more than a scratch isn't it?"

"You insolent runt! Now you really made me angry!" The evil King roared in fury as he pointed a finger at the boy and fired a powerful blast of ki.

Goku dodged the attacks in any way he could. Jumping, sidestepping, rolling, and even performing back flips from time to time.

_'I-Impossible,' _Tien watched the fight in awe. He couldn't even see Goku move anymore, the only thing he could see was King Piccolo firing powerful attacks rapidly.

Finally having enough, King Piccolo abandoned his first plan of attack and jumped high in the air before diving towards the boy at a great speed, and at the last second fired a large ki blast at him. Goku easily dodged by jumping in the air but that was what the evil King wanted as he smirked and fired another ki blast.

With no way to dodge, Goku put his hands in front of him protectively and took the attack head on. What resulted was a powerful explosion that made King Piccolo believe he had killed the brat, but the boy emerged from the attack without a scratch.

"He stopped King Piccolo's attack..." Tien let out in disbelief as he watched Goku land on the ground.

"You took very important people from me... I will never forgive you," Goku glared at the monster.

King Piccolo laughed in response but the sound died in his throat when Goku flickered out of sight and delivered a powerful punch to his face. Completely blindsided, the evil King sailed through the air with Goku following after him. King Piccolo flipped himself on the air to regain his senses but received a kick on his back that sent him crashing into one of his grunts, who was crushed under the very large monster.

Goku grinned as his enemy slowly got on his feet, practically seething in pure fury. No more words were needed between the two. Both charged at the other and attacked.

From the sidelines, Tien watched the fight with nothing but fascination. Both were moving so fast that he could barely keep up, only when the two clashed could he spot them, but they would disappear almost immediately. Just how strong had Goku gotten?

Goku and King Piccolo broke apart after exchanging several blows, but the monster appeared to have taken the worst of it. Even so, despite his injuries, he laughed in amusement.

"Don't get cocky kid. This isn't even my full power. You should consider it an honor that you are the very first to ever hurt my pride," King Piccolo smirked and clenched his fists, preparing to let out his full power, "Now you will die! HAAAAAA!"

The ground shook as the green monster gathered all of his energy until he finally let it all out with one final scream, causing a shock wave to rock the area.

"I don't usually use my full power but you've forced my hand," the evil King said in amusement.

"Then I won't hold back either," Goku grinned, making his enemy frown.

Once again the two charged at each other, Goku dodged the first strike aimed at his face but received another on his stomach. He retaliated immediately, flipping mid-air and delivering a punch to King Piccolo's face, before following it up with an elbow to his chest and a flurry of punches to his stomach. The green monster grunted in pain and was forced to move away from the brat.

"Are you some kind of monster?" King Piccolo couldn't help but ask.

"Says you," Goku grinned.

"I've had enough," King Piccolo growled. He stretched out his hands and gathered energy, "I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"

A massive blast of ki exploded out of his hands and rushed at the boy. King Piccolo laughed as he watched his attack light up the area, destroying everything around it and leaving only a wasteland where the city used to be.

"That's what you get for trying to fight the strongest in the world!" He laughed loudly.

"Hahaha. Don't be so full of yourself yet!"

Hearing the very familiar voice, King Piccolo looked up in the air to see the boy being held up by the human with three eyes.

"Damn you. Just die already!" The evil King began to charge up another attack but the boy was ready this time and charged in before he could finish it.

What Goku didn't count on was King Piccolo shooting laser beams from his eyes and making contact with his knee. The boy cried out in pain and held his knee in pain, unable to do anything at he received the next powerful ki blast head on.

An explosion rocked the area once again and left behind a massive crater where the boy used to be. This time King Piccolo was confident that the runt was dead but that turned out to be wrong as he saw the boy floating in the air with the help of a small cloud.

_'H-how did he survive that?' _King Piccolo asked himself in horror, _'He took the attack! Parts of his clothes were blown off! So why is he still alive?'_

Goku chuckled as he let go off his Nimbus and landed before the evil King.

With most of his power gone, King Piccolo knew that he had no choice but the exploit the runt's weakness. Not thinking twice, he rushed to the weak human with three eyes and grabbed him by the head.

"Look here runt! If you so much as move, I will decorate the place with this one's brains!"

"You coward!" Goku screamed in rage.

King Piccolo laughed, "You humans are all alike. You're soft. Unless you learn to do away with such petty emotions, you'll never defeat true evil." He took a nearby rock and sent it flying towards the boy, catching him on the right wrist and breaking it instantly.

"GAH!" Goku let out. "Sorry Tien..." he glared at the green monster, "I have no choice but to kill him."

"Do you really want me to kill your friend?" King Piccolo smirked.

"Go ahead and do it! I can always revive him later!"

"You don't know do you?" King Piccolo laughed again, "I killed Shenron. A weak dragon like that was no match for me."

Crestfallen, Goku was forced to remain still. He couldn't let Tien die.

"That's right runt," the evil King chuckled as he picked another rock and sent it flying towards the boy once again, this time catching him on his other leg, causing him to fall on the ground with both of his legs useless.

King Piccolo dropped Tien on the ground, no longer having any use for him. "It's finally time to kill you," his words dripping with malice, he flew high in the air before diving towards the fallen runt, "You're mine!"

"That's what you think!" Goku screamed with a glare as he raised a fist in the air, "I still have one arm left!" Putting everything he had into his hand, the boy rocketed himself off the ground with a Kemehameha and flew towards the evil King at an amazing speed, "I'll put everything I've got into this punch!"

King Piccolo stopped himself in the air and put all of his power into his hands which he stretched out in front of him defensively, "Good luck with that! I'll block it!"

Goku glared at the evil monster, "I'll go through you, you bastard!"

The two clashed, both putting all of their power behind their respective moves, however Goku broke through the hands of the enemy before tearing through his chest and leaving a gaping hole.

On the ground, Tien watched in awe as Goku went through King Piccolo, finally putting an end to the demon's terror.

* * *

"Is this going to become a thing with you?" Yajirobe asked as he pushed a Senzu Bean into Goku's mouth.

The boy laughed and jumped off his friend's back, completely healed and feeling even stronger than before.

"What will you do now Goku?" Korin asked in wonder.

"I wanted to revive my friends but King Piccolo killed Shenron..." Goku lamented.

Korin rubbed his chin in thought, "There might just be a way to bring Shenron back."

"What?!" Goku exclaimed in surprised. "How?!"

"By speaking to Kami, guardian of this world and creator of the Dragon Balls."

* * *

**Power Levels:**

Goku – 7,000

_Zenkai –_ 8,000

_Ultra Divine Water –_ 12,000

_Final Zenkai –_ 13,000

Yajirobe – 3,000

Tambourine – 5,800

Tien – 6,500

Drum – 7,500

King Piccolo (Old) – 8,000

King Piccolo (Young) – 11,000


	5. Two Months After

**Hey guys, I'm glad that a I have people following the story and putting it in their favorites! I didn't think I would get so much support so quick.  
**

**Anyway leave a review if you liked the chapter or if you think I should change certain things about my writing, which I am never happy with no matter how many times I try to fix it. **

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 5  
**

**Two Months After**

Training under Kami, the wise protector that looked identical to the old King Piccolo, was a lot different from what he was used to. Normally Goku would choose to train hard by sparring or by doing some sort of physically taxing activity, not with Kami though.

He and Mr. Popo, instead trained his mind. This meant hours of meditation and training in controlling his ki, which despite being boring, ended up teaching him how to fly which was great. Kami had also used some weird power to give him a new set of clothes. The boy now wore a white gi, a dark blue belt as well as weighted blue wristbands and shoes. Finishing off his new uniform were the twin symbols of Kami, a small one on the front and a large one on the back.

Besides training, the protector of the Earth had restored power to the Dragon Balls and with them working again his friends had been wished back to life. Even though he wasn't allowed to go see them he was glad that they were safe and sound.

Goku discarded his thoughts when he approached Kami at the edge of his lookout which was well above any structure, even Korin's Tower. What puzzled the boy was that his new master could actually see a lot of things from there.

"Something has been brought to my attention," the old protector said in a somber tone as he looked down at the world, "A small pod has crashed in the middle of a forest."

The boy looked down as well, trying to see anything but clouds or the green land beneath them. Again, he saw nothing. How did Kami do it?

"I want you to find it and make sure it isn't a threat."

Goku grinned at those words. This would be the first time in two months that he would leave the lookout. Sure he couldn't go wherever he wanted, but he missed the world below.

"I shouldn't have to tell you this but..." Kami said once seeing the eager look on his pupil's eye, "Don't take too long. Your training is not over yet."

"No problem!"

With those words, Goku jumped off Kami's Lookout and dove down the sky.

"Has the boy gone?" Mr. Popo phrased in a question, though it was more of a statement.

Kami looked towards the descending boy with a serious expression, "Yes. I hope I didn't make the wrong choice in sending him. Whatever is in that pod _has _to be connected to him, and I don't plan to rob him of any chance to find out where he came from."

* * *

Covered by a white aura, Goku flew through the skies with a big smile on his face. Kami had given him the location of the place he was supposed to go to telepathically. Painting a picture of where he was going was so much easier than using a map.

As he continued to fly, enjoying the feeling of rushing through the air, he spotted a large yellow airplane flying up ahead.

"I wonder who that is," he muttered to himself. Being in the middle of a sea of trees, this really didn't seem like the place for anyone to be flying at.

Intrigued, he rushed to the front of the ship and peeked inside, finding very familiar faces with looks of surprise.

"Goku!"

"Bulma!" Goku beamed when he saw it wasn't just her but Krillin, Tien, Chiatzu, and Yamcha as well. He moved closer to the glass, "Hey guys!"

"Move you idiot!" Bulma exclaimed when her view was blocked by a very exited boy.

Yamcha opened a door on the side of the ship, giving Goku time to slip in with a wide smile.

"Hey Krillin," he approached his friend first, it was so great to see him filled with life again.

"Goku," Krillin laughed before slinging an arm around his friend's shoulders, "I didn't get a chance to say it before but thank you for bringing me back."

"So what are you doing here Goku?" Tien asked from his spot at the back of the ship.

Goku turned to Tien with a grin, "I'm looking for a pod that crashed somewhere."

Bulma turned back at his words, "You saw it too? We're going to go check it out as well. A lot of people saw it on the city so we decided to ditch the party we threw these guys and check it out."

"Let's go look for it together," Yamcha said, "It's been a while since all of us have been together."

"Sounds good," Tien responded before turning to Goku, "I want to see how much stronger you've gotten too."

The boy smiled. Now that he was able to sense ki, he could tell that his friends had gotten stronger as well, "I want to see how much stronger you guys are too."

"Me too," Krillin broke in, "You beat that King Piccolo that even Master Roshi couldn't beat, you _have _to be super strong now."

Turning away from the happy group, Bulma continued to pilot the plane with a smile. It was truly the best when they were all together.

* * *

"There it is!" Bulma was the first to point out a crater up ahead, making the group stop their conversations and look out the windshield.

"Whoa..." Krillin let out when seeing the destruction the pod had caused.

Goku grinned and opened the door of the plane before jumping out. He could hear Bulma screaming at him to not do that, but he simply laughed and moved towards the pod, followed by Tien and Chiatzu who had also decided to fly out of the ship.

The three landed on the ground not too far from the crater and waited for everyone to catch up. Soon enough the group of complete and they all walked to the crater, finding a smoking white pod at the center of it all.

"Hang on guys let's not – hey!" Bulma yelped when seeing Goku step closer to the ship, "Don't just walk up to it!"

The boy looked at the small pod oddly and tapped its surface with a finger, causing it to rock and emit a bunch of lights and sounds. Taking a couple of steps backwards, he watched the thing curiously as did the others from behind him.

The pod made a final beep and produced a red flash.

"It looks like some sort of scanner," Bulma pointed out as she watched the red light flash across the area slowly, "Is this some kind of information-gathering alien ship?"

Once the pod finished its scan, it began to open slowly to reveal a slick black metal figure. It emerged from the small ship and stood on two thin gray legs as it's equally thin arms twisted and turned until two clawed metal hands appeared.

"Whoa. Is that some sort of monster?" Goku let out in amazement.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't look friendly," Yamcha pointed out a bit nervously.

"**Foreign Power Levels detected. Extermination Mode engaged.**"

With a series of beeps and red flashes coming from the large circular red glass on the thing's head, the robot shot towards Yamcha and landed a powerful punch that sent him hurling through the air.

"Yamcha!" Goku yelled before angrily turning towards the robot.

Tien rushed at the metal figure and threw a punch but the thing flickered out of view and delivered a kick to his stomach. He doubled over in pain before he was sent through the air by a punch. As the robot turned to the other Power Levels, it quickly blocked a punch and a kick from Goku and Krillin. The thing gripped down on them before dropping its hold on Goku and kicking Krillin away.

"You'll pay for that!" Goku screamed and rushed at the robot but it flickered out of view and closed in on Bulma, completely ignoring him.

As the robot approached a terrified Bulma, it was forced to stop and block an incoming strike from Yamcha. The attacks didn't stop there however as Tien and Krillin soon joined in and began to attack the enemy together.

Goku stood on the sidelines before joining in the attack. The instance he did, the robot jumped away and pointed its hands at the four of them to release a barrage of ki blasts. They all put out their hands in front of them however the attacks were not aimed at Goku, but at the others. For some reason it looked like the thing was trying to avoid hitting him.

The boy took advantage of this and closed in on the robot that instantly halted its attacks to dodge the incoming attacker and rush towards the targets. Goku was ready however, and used his tail to latch onto the robot's leg and swing himself to its front and deliver a punch that sent it crashing to the ground.

"Nice one Goku," Yamcha grinned when seeing the boy land on the ground.

"**Non-target interfering with extermination. Treason! Treason! Treason!**"

"W-what's wrong with that thing?" Krillin backed away in fear as the robot's red glass lit up.

"**Saiyan Kakarot. Traitor. Must be terminated.**"

The robot seized its flashing and zoned in on Goku in the blink of an eye, the boy could do nothing as he was knocked away by a kick and crashed against a tree. Before the robot could continue its attack, Yamcha, Krillin, and Tien let loose a barrage of punches and kicks that the thing blocked with deathly precision. Their struggle came to an end when the robot knocked one of Krillin's punches, grabbed his arm, and flung him against the other two, knocking them back a couple of feet.

With the space, the robot moved to attack but received a kick on the back by Goku, making it stumble forward, before receiving a flurry of attacks from Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien who instantly got up to help their friend. The attack ended when the four of them attacked at the same time, making the robot fly through the air and crash against a nearby hill.

"Did we do it?" Yamcha asked but received his answer when the robot came out of the rubble with its hands pointed at them, "Guess not."

As the robot let loose a barrage of ki blasts, the four were forced to dodge and block any coming their way. Luckily they were not too strong, probably seeking to break their guard and not kill, but the relief didn't last as the blasts became more and more powerful until they were forced to jump away while Chiatzu, who stayed behind to protect Bulma, picked her up and jumped as well to avoid a large blast that caused another large crater in the area.

Goku, Tien, and Chiatzu floated in the air with equally troubled expressions. With the way things were going, it didn't look like they were going to win even with their advantage in numbers.

"I'll have to get serious," Goku stated as he took off his wristbands and shoes, both crashing on the ground below with loud thuds, before charging in at the robot at a fast speed that took everyone by surprise.

Even the robot did not calculate the sudden change in power, and was not able to react on time to dodge a powerful punch that sent it hurling through the air. But the boy was not done and followed after the metal fighter to deliver a flurry of punches and kicks that ended when he used both hands to knock the thing down.

"He's even faster than he was against King Piccolo," Tien pointed out in amazement.

Goku stayed in the air with a frown, eyes not leaving the robot that flew out of the sea of trees much faster than before. The boy barely managed to block a punch and was instantly on the defensive when the robot let loose a barrage of punches and kicks that were much faster than before. Fortunately its attack was halted when Yamcha fired a ki blast at it, which pushed it away to receive a twin Dodon Ray from Tiena and Chiatzu.

A large cloud of smoke covered the robot, but the fighters had no time to rest as the robot was upon Tien and Chiatzu in the blink of an eye. The two tried to block the attacks but were overpowered easily and sent crashing to the ground.

Only Goku left in the air with the robot, he put up a defensive stance as the metal fighter closed in on him but was forced to stop when twin blasts came from below, courtesy of Krillin and Yamcha. Seeing their attack as well as Tien and Chiatzu's earlier one, gave him an idea though it wouldn't be easy to pull off.

Taking advantage of the robot being distracted by Yamcha and Krillin's attacks, the boy landed next to them with a weary expression, "We should hit it with our all at once."

"We can't," Krillin responded in panic, "It's not like the robot is just going to stand there without moving."

Goku grinned at that, "Don't worry about that. Just wait for my signal."

With that he flew off, leaving Krillin and Yamcha very confused as they continued to blast at the metal fighter.

Goku moved to where Tien and Chiatzu crashed quickly, it wouldn't be long until the robot stopped dodging and decided to attack. Once he saw them, not looking too hurt, he descended.

"Chiatzu, could you do that thing you did at the tournament?"

"Hm? What do you mean?" Chiatzu asked in confusion.

Tien seemed to understand and grinned, "He's saying you should immobilize the robot, right?"

"Yeah," Goku smiled, "That way we can hit it with all we've got! Just buy us enough time to prepare our attacks."

Chiatzu seemed unsure, but after an affirmative nod from Tien, he decided that he should give it a try. The three of them flew towards the robot and found it already exchanging blows with Krillin and Yamcha, who were having a lot of trouble. Their scuffle ended when Krillin and Yamcha jumped away to put space between them and the robot.

No words were needed as Chiatzu quickly used his power to hold the robot in place while the others began to charge up their attacks.

"Dodon..."

"Kamehame..."

"RAY!"

"HAAAAAA!"

Goku, Tien, Krillin, and Yamcha unleashed their attacks at the same time, all of them direct hits on the immobilized robot. A massive cloud of debris kicked up in the area as the shock wave of the blast knocked down the hiding Bulma.

"**Error... Error...**" As the smoke cleared up, only the head of the robot remained, red glass flashing rapidly, "**E...rro..r."**

The red light gave out and the fighters smiled. While the robot had been much stronger than they had first thought, they managed to beat it before it could do real damage.

* * *

"WHAT?!" A Saiyan researcher stood upright from his chair in shock.

"What's the matter?" Asked a fellow researcher.

"One of our Recon Bots has been destroyed!"

A collective gasp of shock sounded in the dark room as the researcher pinpointed the place where the robot had been destroyed.

"It was destroyed on a small planet..." Digging further into the information about the planet he came to a curious revelation, "It's the planet where Bardock's youngest son was sent."

One of the researchers rubbed his black beard, "Bardock huh? That explains it, if it's his brat then he's bound to be the needlessly violent type."

Not convinced, the researcher that had found the information thought it over silently until he came to a decision. King Vegeta had been looking for a weak planet recently, maybe he could make use of this development.

"I'll be leaving," he announced. First he would go to King Vegeta and tell him of this weak planet, then he would find Bardock and tell him about what happened.

* * *

Bardock was beyond pissed.

All because of the idiots at the Research Center, he had to travel all the way to some tiny remote planet to search for his son along with his family. It was a Saiyan custom for the whole family to visit a family member's planet if there were some problems during their very first purge. That wasn't so bad, Gine had wanted to see their son, and Raditz would have someone to spar with; what really pissed him off was the fact that he had two unwanted pests coming along.

Princess Mara, the youngest child of King Vegeta was to come with them for some reason. Of course, as it was custom with the spawns of the king, their bumbling idiot bodyguard, Nappa, came along as well.

Bardock clicked his tongue as he entered his Space Pod. He could already feel a headache begin to form.

* * *

**Power Levels:**

Goku (Weighted Clothes) – 3,000

Goku – 13,500

Mr. Popo – 11,500

Kami – 13,000

Krillin – 7,000

Tien – 9,000

Yamcha – 7,500

Recon Bot - 17,000

Combined Attack – 20,000


	6. The Saiyans Arrive

**I'm back with another chapter guys. Thanks a lot for reviewing guys, it really means a lot. Also, yeah, Vegeta is the oldest child of King Vegeta, Tarble is the middle child, and Mara is the youngest.**

**This is my longest chapter so far, I hope you like it.**

**Ages:**

Goku – 12

Raditz – 20

Mara – 12

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 6**

**The Saiyans Arrive**

With the robot situation taken care of, everyone had settled back into their peaceful lives. Krillin, Tien, Chiatzu, and Yamcha had decided to part ways and travel the world by themselves in an extended training trip. Bulma had been against it, because she didn't want Yamcha leaving again, but after getting into another fight with him, went back home to work on her projects. As for Goku, he had gone back to Kami's Lookout to resume his training.

At some point during the next two months of training, Kami had wanted to cut off Goku's tail and said something about it being a hindrance in a fight, but the boy was against it. The tail was a part of him and it was useful in battle, not to mention that he always felt stronger with it. That was the first time he had ever seen Kami upset, but he didn't press the issue, and continued to train him as if nothing happened."It's time..." Kami said while looking down at the world.  
For several years he knew that someone would come for Goku, and that depending on who they were the Earth could face its greatest threat."What's the matter Kami?" Mr Popo asked in worry, it wasn't very often that Kami looked so grim.

"Where is Goku?"

"He's training in the lower chambers."

Kami nodded with his eyes closed, "Get him... They're here."

* * *

On a remote wasteland, five ships broke through the atmosphere and crashed down on the ground, making several large craters.

"It was about damn time," Raditz said as he stepped out of one of the space pods and floated up the air while rubbing his shoulders, "This better be worth the long trip."

"Quit complaining Raditz," scolded Bardock as he joined his son in the air. He crossed his arms with a smirk as the remaining three Saiyans joined them, "You know, this place ain't so bad. The gravity here is light."

Gine smiled as she gazed at the blue sky, "It's not every day that we see a planet as nice as this. Hey Bardock, maybe we should stay here for a bit after we find Kakarot."

Bardock chuckled at his wife, Gine, "Fine, but I can't speak for Kakarot. He'll probably want off this rock as soon as possible."

"Don't get ahead of yourselves," Nappa spoke up with a frown, "We're only here to pick up your son and set a price for this planet."

The last of the Saiyans, a small girl with spiky hair that reached a little over her shoulders wearing a black jumpsuit under her black and yellow armor, did not look comfortable when seeing Bardock and Nappa confront each other. Unlike most Saiyans, she wasn't assertive in any way which made her family scold her constantly. Truthfully the only reason she hadn't been banished like her older brother Tarble, was because she really liked to fight and was good at it.

"I'm not going back until I get to properly train in this place," Bardock said flatly, his arms crossed in defiance. "You can go ahead and glare at me all you like Nappa, but you and I both know who is stronger between the two of us."

Cornered, Nappa turned to the youngest Saiyan of the group, "Say something Mara. You're the princess."

Suddenly put on the spot, the girl fumbled with her words and raised her hands to calm them down, "I uh... have no problem with staying here, I guess?"

"What?!" Nappa exclaimed, making the girl flinch.

"Ah! Oh, I mean, we can go back if you want..."

"Enough," Bardock said with a scoff and turned to his family, "If Nappa wants to go cry to King Vegeta, let him. We have more important things to worry about. Raditz, find Kakarot."

Raditz nodded and turned on his scouter, only to be left completely speechless at what he found.

Noticing, Gine looked at her son carefully, "What's the matter Raditz?"

"I-impossible!"

"Spit it out," Nappa snapped.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, Raditz finally spoke. "There's several power levels over five-thousand!"

Bardock raised an eyebrow as he quickly checked his scouter to verify if what his son said was true. Mimicking his actions, the rest of the Saiyans switched on their scouters only to have expressions that mimicked the one Raditz had.

"This is impossible," Bardock growled, "No back-water planet should have power levels this high!"

"Our intel was off..." Nappa cursed. "It's no wonder there's so many small power levels here. Kakarot probably had himself killed years ago."

Gine bit her lip but Bardock was quick to reply.

"He's alive."

Mara remained quiet as she ran over her thoughts. There was no logic in what Bardock was saying, Kakarot had probably been killed long ago. Sent to a planet filled with so many strong power levels in order to conquer it, there was no way a Saiyan with a power level as low as Kakarot's could survive for so long. They should just consider him a lost cause and contact Planet Vegeta.

"We'll go look for him," Bardock decided, much to the protest of Nappa. However, not wanting to start another argument with the brainless fool, he turned to the princess and gave her an intimidating look, "You're okay with it right?"

"Y-yes," the girl squeaked.

Smirking, Bardock turned on his scouter and searched for the highest power levels.

5,000...

6,500...

9,000...

10,000!

10,500!

"Alright, I've found five of the highest power levels here. We'll all go individually, that way this will all go by faster," Bardock decided, "I will take the highest reading, as for the rest of you..."

In the end it was finally decided who would go for who and with their targets set, the five Saiyans took off in different directions.

* * *

_'Some very strong people have come to Earth. Don't get too exited, they're most likely hostile.'_

Goku frowned as he flew through the sky on his Flying Nimbus. Kami had told him to use it rather than fly in order to keep his ki suppressed and to find a deserted place to fight in. While the prospect of fighting someone strong was exciting, he couldn't help but worry. If whoever came to Earth was as strong as the robot from last time, then they were in trouble.

He snapped out of his thoughts when feeling something coming his way.

"Take us to those mountains over there Nimbus."

* * *

Krillin relaxed at the edge of a crystal clear lake on the outskirts of a small friendly village. He had helped them take care of some bandits and they had treated him very well, even giving him food to take on his travels.

"I should probably head west now..." he muttered to himself before noticing something flying in the distance, "Hm?"

Standing and squinting his eyes to get a better view, his brow furrowed when he noticed that whatever was on the air was headed for him. An uneasy laugh escaped his lips as he watched the figure, clearly a person, closing in on him. Just mere moments later, the figure stopped in the air and looked at him with a frown.

"Who are you?" The figure asked in a gruff voice.

Krillin took a step back. Wearing some sort of armor along with his long black hair and angry-looking face, this guy looked like nothing but bad news.

"M-my name's Krillin," he managed through his fear.

Raditz smirked and crossed his arms, "Tell me, have you heard of someone called Kakarot." The Saiyan unwrapped his tail from his waist, making Krillin's eyes widen, "He should have a tail like mine."

The human knew for a fact that this guy was probably looking for Goku, the only person he knew who had a tail, but he wasn't about to sell out his friend to some angry stranger.

"I don't know anyone like that."

"I see," the Saiyan wrapped his tail around his waist again, "In that case I can kill you."

* * *

_Saiyan Princess Mara stepped into her father's throne room while trying not to let the dread show on her face. _

"_This will be your last chance to prove yourself," King Vegeta spoke roughly, a frown on his face. "After the embarrassment you caused on your last assignment, I won't tolerate another failure."_

"_Understood Father," Mara answered in a small voice. _

_The failure her father was talking about had happened during a mission to a large planet with a massive population. It had been her leading a team of twenty Saiyans that had been sent to purge the planet. However the assignment took a wrong turn when some of the people there turned out to be much stronger than they had thought. After a whole day of fighting, she had lost consciousness after finishing off a strong warrior, and when she woke up her entire team had been wiped out._

_With no more warriors to lead, she had gone back to Planet Vegeta which turned out to be a terrible mistake. Her father had been furious, even told her that dying on the planet would have been better, and vowed that if she ever failed again she would be banished like her older brother Tarble._

"_Very well," King Vegeta nodded, "While Vegeta is cleaning up your mess, you will be going to some remote planet, weak from what we've gathered, with a Saiyan Warrior known as Bardock. He's competent enough."_

_Mara tried not to let her surprise show at her father's words. For him to call someone 'competent' was strange. Did her father think highly of this Bardock?_

"_You are dismissed."_

_She vowed her head and left._

Mara scowled as she thought about the 'competent' Bardock. His power wasn't anything special, lower than her father's but still higher than hers and her older brother's. Maybe he had some brilliant mind when it came to fighting or some incredible strength he was hiding? Either way she had to wait for the opportunity to see.

The young Saiyan pushed the thoughts away, instead admiring the small colorful world as she flew in the direction of her target. Out of all the planets she had been to so far this had to be the most beautiful of the bunch, even her home planet was not this pleasant, though that had more to do with the gravity being several times weaker here.

Her green scouter beeped once it found the target nearby. Looking at its direction, she noticed that the target was in a forest of green trees – no – he was over them so that meant that the target was flying.

"There," she noticed the power level was a small figure with red cheeks and pale white skin (did the people of this planet look like this?). "Oh well, that's definitely not Kakarot. I should probably go meet the others. Let's see... the closest one is... that way."

With a new destination, Mara began to move once again.

* * *

Yamcha looked up from the bonfire he had set up, eyes narrowed when he noticed something flying his way. If he wasn't in the middle of a harshly cold mountain up north, he would have thought that one of his friends was coming to see him.

The former bandit of the desert left the small camp he had set up, and put on a defensive stance when seeing the flying figure stop right above him. Now that he could see the figure up close, he noticed that it was a bald man wearing some strange armor.

"You're too old to be Bardock's son," Nappa said with a smirk. "Tell me, what do you call this place."

"I'm not from around here so I don't know. I guess it's just some random mountain," Yamcha answered carefully.

Nappa scoffed, "I meant this planet. What do you call it?"

"Earth," he decided to answer before the strange man could get violent.

"I see," the Saiyan switched on his scouter and noticed the power levels of his comrades had made contact with the targets. "You're in luck Earthling, I don't have time to kill with the likes of you."

Before Yamcha could ask what was going on, the Saiyan was off.

As the bodyguard of Mara, Nappa needed to be near her if she was on a fight. While King Vegeta was not the least bit pleased with his daughter, getting her killed in some back-water planet would bring shame to the royal family.

* * *

"I'm looking for someone," Bardock told the strange three-eyed target. "Tell me. Have you seen someone with hair similar to mine?"

"Yeah," Tien answered after a brief pause. The man acted strange but his very familiar appearance meant that he had some sort of connection with Goku, maybe they were related. "What do you want with him? Who are you?"

Bardock frowned, noticing the defensive tone with which the Earthling spoke, "I am his father."

* * *

Gine's scouter beeped once it found its target on some nearby mountains. She was a bit nervous as she descended not only because she would finally see her son again, but because the people of the planet were much stronger than they had first thought.

Nappa's words lingering in her mind but she refused to think that Kakarot was... No! He couldn't be.

"Eh?"

It was as if all of her thoughts seized when she first laid eyes on him. The way she felt when she saw him standing there, a softer image of Bardock, with a confused look on his face was more than enough proof.

"K-Kakarot," she stumbled forward when landing on the rocky terrain of the mountain. Her knees buckled before she ran to the surprised boy and pulled him into a hug.

"W-wha!"

"Kakarot! You've alive! You're safe!" Gine cried as tears ran down the sides of her cheeks. Who had she been kidding? Of course she had thought the worse but now... Now that she knew he was safe the relief was so great that she couldn't help but cry.

Goku for his part was utterly confused. Who was this Kakarot she was talking about? However he decided to wait until the stranger pulled away to ask her.

Gine smiled and pulled away from the boy, wiping away her tears as she did so, "Sorry about that. I got a little emotional."

"No problem, but who are you?"

"I'm your mother," she answered tearfully, a laugh escaping her lips.

"M-mother?!" Goku let out in disbelief.

Long ago Grandpa Gohan had told him that everyone had a mother and a father. When he asked if he did too, his Grandpa had said that he didn't know but if he did then he would find her one day.

So this was his mother...

Gine smiled when seeing the look of awe on her son's face, "I'm very glad to see you again Kakarot."

"Kakarot?" Goku repeated in confusion before pointing at himself, "Me?"

The Saiyan mother appeared a bit concerned when seeing how confused her son looked. Every Saiyan that was sent to a planet always came back knowing their name, the space pod should have let him know.

"Of course," she answered, "You're a Saiyan, born on Planet Vegeta."

Goku frowned at that, "No way. My name is Goku and I'm from Earth."

"What?"

"So you found him," came the gruff voice of Raditz who held someone under his arm, "Guess I won't be needing this insect then." He dropped a bloodied Krillin on the ground and pointed a hand at him, charging an attack.

Before the attack was done charging however, Goku charged in at Raditz and delivered a punch to his face that sent him flying through the air.

"Kakarot what are you doing?!" Gine exclaimed in concern but her son ignored her and knelt next to the small figure Raditz had brought.

"You'll be okay Krillin," said Goku as he gave his friend a Senzu Bean to eat, "Good thing I stopped by Korin's on my way here."

Krillin's eyes snapped open as he sat up in surprise, "Wow! What was that thing you just gave me?!"

Goku smiled at his friend before turning to Raditz, who emerged from the rubble he had made when crashing on a hill. "I don't know who you are but if you hurt my friends, you'll have to deal with me!"

Raditz glared and checked his scouter, "Five-thousand huh? Don't get ahead of yourself Kakarot, you just got one lucky punch." The older Saiyan got into his fighting stance with a smirk, "It won't happen again."

"Stop it Raditz," Gine frowned at him and then turned to Kakarot, "You too Kakarot. Don't fight your brother."

"Brother?" Krillin repeated incredulously.

"I told you my name is Goku," the young Saiyan repeated, his eyes never leaving Raditz. There was something dangerous about him, it was like he planned to attack at any moment.

"Tell me something _Goku,_" Raditz began, basically spitting out the name, "Were you ever hit on the head as a young child?"

Goku's eyes widened slightly but he didn't let the surprise show, "My Grandpa told me that I fell from a cliff once and hit my head. But what does that have to do with anything?"

Gine gasped while Raditz growled angrily.

"You fool! You have forgotten all about who you truly are! Allow me to remind you," Raditz unwrapped his tail to show the brat proof, "We are Saiyans, the strongest race in the universe. You were brought to this planet so that you could purge every life form in it."

Krillin turned to his friend in shock. Was it all true? Had Goku really been meant to kill everyone?

_'No, that's not true,'_ Krillin decided with a small smile, _'Goku's saved the whole world from that King Piccolo monster. Even if he really was sent here to kill, that doesn't matter. He's as much of a human as the rest of us!'_

"If what you're saying is true, then I'm glad I hit my head and forgot all about it," Goku declared with a serious expression as he dropped into his fighting stance, "There's no way I'll ever let you hurt my friends!"

The scouters of Gine and Raditz beeped once again as they caught a change on the young Saiyan's power level.

"No way..." Raditz gaped in shock, "Twelve thousand?! There has to be a mistake!"

Gine shook her head in response, also shocked by her son's sudden rise in power, "It's no mistake. I have the same reading."

Goku and Krillin didn't understand what the two were talking about but kept up their guard anyway. Whether they were family or not, the young Saiyan was willing to fight and that brought comfort to his human friend. That Raditz guy had been strong but he was sure that the two of them could beat him together.

Gine bit her lip as she looked between her sons before facing her youngest, "Please stop this Kakarot-"

"Goku!" The boy corrected, feeling peeved at constantly being called something else.

"Fine, just stop this already. There's no reason to fight, your friend is healed now right?"

Krillin decided to speak up, tired of being silent, "Tell that to the scary guy over there."

"Raditz," Gine said his name sternly, making him scoff and look away in frustration. Relieved, she smiled at Goku, "See, we don't want to fight you Ka...Goku."

She smiled when seeing that he relaxed his stance, but she was a complete mess on the inside. Kakarot did not want to purge the planet, that meant that he would be branded a traitor when they returned to Planet Vegeta. If Bardock and Raditz purged the planet on his stead, then Kakarot would hate all of them for it.

What kind of sick joke was this? Now that she could finally see her son again there was no way to go home without him hating them. There was also no telling what Bardock would do. Yeah he had softened up as the years went by but she truly believed that he would purge the planet if it came down to it, Kakarot hating them or not.

Unaware of her internal debate, Goku and Krillin looked at each other and wondered if they should just leave.

"Things are going to get interesting," Raditz spoke up with a smirk suddenly, making the others turn to him in confusion.

Gine felt a chill run down her spine when she turned to where Raditz was looking and pressed the scanner on her scouter, "Bardock..."

The veteran Saiyan Warrior landed next to Gine with a smirk on his face, his eyes studying his youngest son in approval. Mixed with the reading of twelve thousand he had seen earlier, it was safe to say that Kakarot was strong. Even so...

"Kakarot, why are there so many Earthlings still alive?" Bardock asked sternly with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

"It's no use father," Raditz responded with an amused smirk, "Kakarot hit his head as a child. He remembers nothing. Even better, he refuses to purge this planet."

Bardock nodded and turned to face his youngest son, "Is this true?"

Krillin gulped and looked down while Goku met the older Saiyan's gaze.

"Yeah," he replied with a grin, "So you can forget about me joining you."

"All right," said Bardock as he stepped forward, "Then let's see how well you can protect this planet."

"Bardock," Gine looked at him in worry, he wasn't about to fight their youngest son was he?

Goku stepped forward as well, "Fine, but if I beat you then you'll leave this planet. For good."

Bardock smirked in response before he disappeared from view and reappeared behind his youngest son with his right first cocked back. It appeared he would get the first strike in against his son but, much to his surprise, his fist went through him. Next thing he knew, his son reappeared at his side and threw a kick but his years of experience gave him the reflexes to dodge the attack by jumping away.

"Afterimage technique," Goku grinned in triumph before charging in.

The two Saiyans were soon trading blows, Bardock landing the first, but Goku managing to retaliated with a couple of strikes. While Krillin urged his friend to keep it up, Gine and Bardock were rendered speechless. To be able to fight head to head with Bardock like that...it looked like Kakarot was a lot stronger than he looked.

Soon enough father and son became blurs, clashing every now and then, until they finally seized their attacks to get a bit of breathing room. It was at this time that Krillin noticed that while Bardock remained the same, Goku had several scratches and bruises, taking the worst of their exchange.

"You're gonna have to do better than that," Bardock stated bluntly.

Goku frowned and took off his wristbands and shoes, making the three scouters catch the change in power immediately.

_'Fourteen thousand five hundred...' _Bardock managed to keep his stoic facade on despite his shock. Kakarot, having spent his whole life away from his own kind, was now stronger than most Saiyans. Hell, he was even stronger than Nappa now. _'If he didn't kill anyone here, then how the hell did he get so strong?'_

Bardock pushed the thoughts away when his son ran at him at a much faster speed, and attacked with relentless quick jabs and kicks that managed to slip through his defenses every now and then. The older Saiyan had to refrain himself from smirking as he blocked a punch and retaliated with his own, catching his son on the stomach and making him double over in pain. Not done, he kicked the boy away, this time putting enough force to make sure he didn't continue fighting.

"Not bad Kakarot," Bardock said with a smirk.

Goku gritted his teeth in pain as Krillin helped him up slowly. He tried to stand by himself but only stumbled forward, thankfully his friend was there to keep him up. That last kick had caught him on the ribs, he was sure some of them were broken, and left him feeling terrible. Just how strong was this guy?

"Let's make a deal."

Goku, Krillin, Gine, and even Raditz looked at Bardock as if he grew a second head. Goku and Krillin because they thought for sure that he would keep on fighting, while Gine and Raditz did not think he would compromise.

"I will give you six months to get stronger," Bardock proposed. Six months was a reasonable extension for their trip, not enough to concern Planet Vegeta if they offered a good reason, "We'll fight then and if you are able to stand more than ten minutes against me at full power, then I'll make sure this planet is not purged. Of course you also have my word that none of us will kill any Earthlings."

"What?!" Raditz let out loudly but his father ignored him.

"What do you say, Kakarot?"

Goku somehow found himself grinning in response. This guy was incredibly strong, of course he would want to fight him again only next time he'd be strong enough to make sure nothing happened to Earth.

"Okay, but I won't lose next time."

Bardock chuckled in amusement and turned to the rest of his family, "Let's go meet the others." Raditz followed after him but Gine was hesitant to go, making him grin, "Go ahead and stay if you like, we'll be near the Space Pods."

With that Bardock and Raditz left while Gine moved to help her son rest on the ground. Krillin watched the two silently, noting how his friend seemed to go back to normal after those two guys left.

"So uh... who are you?" Krillin asked. She wasn't scary like the others and Goku didn't appear to have any bad feelings for her.

"I'm Ka... Goku's mother," she said with a smile as she pulled up her son's shirt to see how badly he was hurt. When seeing how badly bruised his stomach and ribs were already, she frowned, "That Bardock..."

"Don't worry," Goku said with a wince as he reached for the bag of Senzu Beans tied to his belt. "I just eat one and..." he popped a bean into his mouth and then jumped to his feet with a smile, "There! All better!"

Gine stared wide eyed, amazed by the strange food, but still a bit worried, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yup," the Saiyan boy laughed and began to stretch, "But from now on I have to train much harder. That guy was really strong."

"That was Goku's father right?" Krillin voiced, already sure of the answer. Receiving a nod, he grinned and turned to Goku, "He looks a lot like you."

"Really?"

"Of course he does. Same hair and everything."

"Hahaha."

Gine smiled. She loved her family, but she was relieved to see that Kakarot did not take after his father or brother in that they could switch to cold-hearted warriors if need be. It was a very common Saiyan temperament, one she did not share, so she was glad to see that her youngest didn't have that either. Purehearted and kind, those words best described him.

"Ah!" Goku turned to his mom with a bright smile, "Do you want to see where I'm training? It's a really cool place!"

"Sure," Gine answered with a smile that mirrored his own.

"Hey wait, could you guys take me to some nearby city or something?" Krillin asked when he noticed that the two were about to leave.

Goku laughed and picked him up, "Let's go!"

* * *

_It had been a year after Kakarot was born. Back then Bardock lived for nothing but fighting like most Saiyans. As he grew stronger, so did his pride as he rose through the ranks until he even sparred against the King once. _

_The Saiyan Warrior lived a good life but it all ended in an instant. _

_One day a certain creature arrived on Planet Vegeta and defeated the most powerful Saiyans, him included, with a flick of a finger. When the strange creature told them that he had arrived to destroy their planet, they knew for a fact that it was within the range of his abilities. It was then that their King stepped up and offered the creature a feast with the best their planet had to offer. _

_Bardock didn't know a lot about what happened next since he'd bee unconscious. But when he came to and went back to the throne room, he found the creature sitting on the throne, feet resting on the back of their King, and Elite Warriors handing him all sorts of food like slaves. _

"_I'd like to come here again," the creature said in a pleasant tone. "I won't destroy your planet today, but I don't like to go back on my word so, I'll come back within your life time King Vegeta, and when I do this planet will be nothing but dust."_

_The creature had disappeared after that but left a big impact on everyone. _

_Bardock, being made aware of there being stronger people out there, pushed himself to become stronger so that he could protect his world when the time came. A couple of months after that he began to train with his family as well and soon enough their bond became stronger and all of a sudden he didn't want to protect the world, but his family. It wasn't very Saiyan of him to think like that but he found that he didn't care._

Not only him, but his whole family would be ready when the creature returned and even if they weren't strong enough, he would die to protect them.

Bardock grinned as he flew through the blue skies of Earth. Kakarot was a lot stronger than he had ever imagined and he could see that there was a lot of room for growth. With time and appropriate training, his family could become strong enough to kill that so called God of Destruction.

* * *

**Power Levels:**

Goku (Suppressed) – 5,000

Goku (Weighted Clothes) – 12,000

Goku – 14,500

_Zenkai –_ 15,000

Tien – 10,500

Krillin – 9,000

Yamcha – 10,000

Chiatzu – 6,500

Bardock (Suppressed) – 16,000

Gine – 11,000

Raditz – 13,000

Nappa – 14,000

Mara (Suppressed) – 7,000


	7. The Saiyans Attack

**Sup guys, here's a new chapter for you. **

**A special thanks to you guys that reviewed, it means a lot. This chapter is shorter than the last one but that's mostly because I sort of wanted to get it out of the way since I had a mild case of writer's block. It should be cured now (hopefully). **

**And another thing, I did mention Beerus (Bills) last chapter but it will be a WHILEbefore he shows up. So that's that, enjoy the chapter.**

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 7**

**The Saiyans Attack**

"It's over there!" Goku pointed out as he and Gine ascended through the air.

She had to say that she was very impressed with the structure. It floated very high in the air without mechanical assistance from what she could see, so how did they get the place to float so effortlessly. Did this planet have better technology than Planet Vegeta?

Gine pushed the thoughts aside as she and Goku touched down on the white tiled floor and were greeted by the guardian himself as well as Mr. Popo.

There was a certain air of wariness between them but Goku didn't seem to notice as he excitedly pointed at the tall green man, "This is Kami, he's the one that's training me! And that there's Mr. Popo, he trains with me a lot too!"

Seeing as it was more than obvious that they were apprehensive of her, she offered a grin to put them at ease, "Thank you for looking after my son. He's become strong thanks to you."

"Not at all," Kami answered truthfully, "I've only begun to train him recently. The rest of his progress was thanks to the many people he met here on Earth."

"I see," she answered before asking the question that had been on her mind ever since she first saw Kami, "Sorry about asking so suddenly but what is a Namekian doing all the way here? As far as I know, Planet Namek is quite far from here."

Kami seemed surprised at her words but didn't voice it, instead he simply said, "Earth is my home. In any case, there's something I need to know about the people you came with. Other than Goku, what reason is there for you being here?"

"The Saiyan race is one of the many that have made it a business to sell planets. They do so by killing off the life-forms of any planet of interest."

Before the Namekian could answer, Goku spoke up with a grin, "Don't worry Kami. I'll protect the Earth when the time comes. That's why I'll train to become much stronger!"

"I'll help you train too," Gine decided, making her son's eyes light up. "Your father doesn't go back on what he says. That's why when he told you that he would keep this world from being purged, he meant it. But for that to happen you need to be much stronger. I'm not very strong but I can teach you all that he's taught me."

"Of course, I won't lighten your training either," Kami told the boy.

Goku grinned, "Let's start already then!"

* * *

Once again wearing his trademark red uniform, but with the Kami emblem and a dark blue shirt underneath, Goku dodged a punch aimed at his face by jumping to the side, only for Gine to follow after him immediately and throw a couple of jabs his way. The young Saiyan backtracked while dodging the attacks by moving his head from side to side, before leaping up in the air. While he would usually go much higher, Kami had made his clothes much heavier than anything he was used to, it had been a pain to get used to them, but after a month of nothing but training he felt much more comfortable wearing them.

He was broken out of his thoughts when a large ki blast flew towards him and, instead of dodging it, he slapped it away but just when he thought he had avoided being hit, his eyes widened when he saw his mother right in front of him. With no time to react, he was struck on the head and sent crashing down on the lookout.

"That was great Goku," Gine smiled while touching down on the floor.

Goku chuckled wearily in response as he got on his feet and dusted off his pants. Today's training had been different, instead of sparring or training his mind, he had to dodge his mother's attacks without attacking back. Kami had said that it would help him get used to the weight even further, while his mom told him that it would make him get used to her and Bardock's fighting style.

"Oh..." he held his stomach with a scowl, "I'm hungry now."

Gine laughed. If there was something she learned while coming to train with Goku all the time, it was that he had an incredible appetite.

"Go take a bath then, I'll get some food ready," she told him and he didn't have to be told twice as he dashed for the temple with an eager smile. "I wonder if Mr. Popo will help with the food again..."

* * *

Nappa was beyond furious.

It had been one month now and they had done _nothing_. No destroying cities, no killing Earthlings, nothing! Why? Because Bardock felt like it!

He would make sure to tell King Vegeta everything _if _they got back. Even if his King seemed to have some sort of respect for Bardock, he'd be furious when he heard of all this.

The others, minus Gine, were probably thinking the same thing. He could tell. Which is why he called them to a nearby city where they now stood on top of a tall building.

"What's going on Nappa?" Mara asked.

"All this sitting around is getting on my nerves. We should do something to amuse ourselves, destroy a town or two."

Raditz had similar thoughts but he didn't want to go against his father, "Father said we couldn't kill any Earthlings though."

Nappa growled but then an idea came up, making him smirk.

"Fine we won't destroy any towns but maybe we should go test out the strongest this puny planet has to offer."

"You mean find us a couple of Earthlings and knock them around a little," Raditz said, liking the idea.

Mara knew for a fact that this was a bad idea.

Bardock didn't seem like the type to take insubordination lightly. But while she was intimidated by the veteran warrior, there was something that had been on her mind for some time now. Back when they were looking for Kakarot, she had seen his power level and was beyond curious. How could someone get so strong without going on missions or training with those his own kind?

"What do you say, you in?" Nappa asked the princess. He expected some sort of reluctance but instead was surprised to see a very Saiyan smirk on her face.

She had to fight him herself and see.

"I'm in."

* * *

Tien held a grimace on his face as he sat under a waterfall, letting the heavy water hit him on the shoulders as he meditated.

After traveling, he finally decided to train deep in the mountains. Isolated, but still not far from any of his friends if any of them needed help. Speaking of which he was reminded of the strange man that had been looking for Goku and wondered what happened after he left.

But that wasn't important now. He was in the middle of emptying his mind.

Allowing himself to drift away from those thoughts, Tien went back into deep meditation. With nothing but blackness and the faraway ki signatures, he was made aware of a very large one moving towards him.

Tien opened his eyes with a frown. There was something coming, something big.

Focusing his third eye he spotted a bald man, wearing armor similar to the strange man he had met, flying at a very fast speed.

"Looks like trouble..." Tien muttered to himself as he got out of the waterfall and floated up the air. "I'll just have to wait and see what happens."

* * *

_'Not again.'_

When Yamcha had thought that after meeting that strange person the rest of his training would continue without any interruptions, he decided to go to the desert for training. But now, as he watched the flying person get closer and closer, he wondered if there was more to this than he had thought.

At first he thought that the strange man would just find whatever he was looking for and then leave, but it didn't look like it anymore. Not only was this another person, he could already make out the black hair on the figure, but there could possibly be more.

It didn't take long for the smirking man with long black hair to arrive. There was a fair amount of space between them but Yamcha could still feel how dangerous this person was.

"Who are you?" He asked, hands balled into fists in anticipation.

Raditz smirked, "Doesn't matter."

Without warning he shot towards Yamcha, who quickly leaned to the side to dodge a punch and then jumped away to put some distance between them.

"Fight!"

Yamcha didn't have to be told twice so he got on his fighting stance with no time to wonder just what was going on.

* * *

Exchanging blows as they raced through the air, Tien and Nappa fought for very different reasons. One for amusement and the other for the will to survive.

The Saiyan kicked at Tien's chest but he grabbed the foot and flung him through the air. However, before he could crash, Nappa stopped himself in the air with a look of amusement.

"So your kind can fight," the Saiyan said in a pleasant tone, "Good. Otherwise this would've been boring."

Tien smirked in response. This guy was beyond cocky but cockiness was a terrible weakness to be exploited during a fight.

"Solar Flare!"

A blinding light flashed in the area causing Nappa to cry out in pain and nurse his eyes.

"Damn you! Damn you! My eyes!"

Tien took advantage of the moment and closed in on the Saiyan before letting loose a barrage of punches and kicks. Nappa could do nothing as he was struck all over his body before being sent flying through the air by a powerful kick to his torso.

"Dodon Ray!"

The beam of ki shot out of Tien's finger and into the air before making contact with its target, engulfing the Saiyan in a cloud of smoke.

Beads of sweat rolled down Tien's face as he watched the smoke die down and frowned when he saw that the strange man was still standing albeit hurt with parts of his armor blown off. He was still rubbing his eyes, affected by the effects of the Solar Flare even now, which gave him a bit of relief.

Tien took a deep breath to relax himself and got into his fighting stance as the effects of the Solar Flare died down.

Time for round two.

* * *

Yamcha had seen much better days.

After being confronted, the stranger had released a barrage of ki blasts that were both strong and fast. So far it had been a game of cat and mouse with Raditz continuing his attacks with no intention of stopping, while Yamcha did his best to dodge in any way he could. The former bandit mentally cursed himself for not bothering in asking Tien, Chiatzu, or Goku to teach him how to fly.

_'I can't keep running forever and it doesn't look like that guy will stop any time soon,' _Yamcha ran through the dunes while thinking of what to do until a thought finally hit him. He had heard from Tien of how Goku defeated King Piccolo. _'Thank you Goku.'_

With a grin, Yamcha dodged yet another attack before gathering his ki and aiming at the ground on his under his feet, "Kamehameha!"

The blue wave of power materialized and he was sent rocketing through the air at a fast speed that took Raditz by surprise. Yamcha then prepared his next attack, bringing up his hands as he neared the Saiyan.

"Wolf Fang Fist!"

Completely thrown off by the switch in speed and with his hands still stretched out, Raditz cursed as he received a series of punches, swipes, and kicks before being knocked to the ground where he crashed and kicked up a cloud of debris.

Yamcha was not done however as he aimed at the crater Raditz had made.

"Kamehameha!"

* * *

Goku was all smiles as he ate his food contently. After a long day of training it was great to finally get to eat, he'd been starving!

As he reached for another piece of meat, Kami walked into the room with an urgent look on his face that didn't go unnoticed by Gine, who sat with Goku on the table.

"What is it?" She asked while her son continued to eat.

"Two of the people that came with you are fighting some of Goku's friends."

"I knew this would happen eventually," Gine cursed, "It isn't like that idiot Nappa to sit still for long periods of time."

Goku placed his plate on the table and turned to Kami with a serious expression on his face, "I have to go help them."

* * *

Yamcha watched the smoke of his attack clear, his face reflecting his worry. He wasn't stupid, he could tell that the guy he was fighting was a lot stronger than he looked. And even though he didn't know _how _strong he was, one thing was for certain, he was more than strong enough to survive his attack.

"Not bad for an Earthling," Raditz said as he emerged from the smoke. Besides a burn to his right arm and a chunk of his armor blown off, he looked unaffected. "But now I'll show you the true power of a Saiyan!"

Yamcha gritted his teeth as Raditz released his ki, causing a shockwave that kicked up harsh winds as well as clouds of debris. "No way..." he muttered to himself as the Saiyan continued to release his full power until he finally let it all out with a final scream.

"Now," Raditz began before disappearing from Yamcha's sight and reappearing inches away from him with a hand pointed at his chest, "Die!"

A powerful ki blast shot out of his hand and drove the Earthling to the ground with a loud crash.

_'He wasn't as bad as I thought,' _Raditz mused as he watched the weakling emerge from the rubble with his shirt blown off and sporting various wounds on his torso. Despite the wounds though, the Earthling put on a fighting stance, earning a chuckle, _'So he can still fight... This might be fun.'_

* * *

Nappa growled as he traded blows with the Earthling that had grown another set of arms on his shoulders. Because of the extra limbs they were even on their exchange, both landing and receiving hits though the Saiyan was sure his did more damage. Though this advantage didn't last as Tien took a more defensive approach as they continued to trade blows, leaving his two extra arms free.

"Dodon Ray!"

The Saiyan was caught off guard as twin beams of ki fired out of the extra hands and knocked him back several feet until he crashed against a rocky hill.

With enough space to use his next attack, Tien flew high in the air and cupped his hands together, "Time to end this."

"Tri-Beam, ha!"

* * *

Goku's hair fluttered furiously as he moved rapidly through the skies.

After a quick visit to Korin to get a senzu bean, he had popped it into his mouth and left. With a good idea of where to go from Kami and with his ability to sense ki much better than before, he was able to pinpoint where his friends were fighting. But there was a problem, who should he go to first?

Yamcha's ki felt weaker than it was just moments ago. Tien on the other hand was still going strong and the person he was fighting was the one getting weaker, but even so, he still felt stronger than the guy Yamcha was fighting.

The boy finally made up his mind but was forced to a halt when he noticed something out of the corner of his eyes. Honing his senses he quickly spotted something moving towards him at a great speed.

Goku frowned as the figure came closer and closer until he could finally see who it was, a girl wearing Saiyan armor. Probably a friend of the guys fighting.

"You must be Kakarot," Maya stated, the resemblance to Bardock was uncanny.

"My name is Goku," he answered plainly before glaring at her, "Why are you guys fighting my friends? I thought you were going to wait for six months."

The Saiyan girl shrugged, "Calm down. It's not like we mean to kill anybody. We just had nothing to do and decided to fight some of the strongest on this planet."

Goku frowned, "I'm supposed to trust you?"

"You don't have to," Maya grinned. "But I came here for a fight and aren't leaving without one," she cracked her gloved hands and took on a fighting stance, "Get ready Goku."

* * *

**Power Levels:**

Goku (Weighted Clothes) – 6,000

Gine – 12,000

Tien – 11,500

Yamcha – 11,200

Raditz – 13,000

Nappa – 14,000

Mara (Suppressed) – 7,000


	8. Sacrifice

**What's up guys? It took a while since I was never satisfied with the way this chapter was coming, but here's the next one. **

**This story will have a couple of new pairings but there are some that I will not change. I don't want to give anything away so just wait for it when the time comes. **

**Also I'm trying to make Goku a bit smarter on this story. Not to a point where he's a genius helping Bulma fix ships and stuff, but just to a point where he's not as naive when he grows up, this includes him being able to tell man and woman apart now. **

**And that's that, don't forget to drop a review if you liked the chapter or have any questions, they really help motivate me to do better!**

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 8**

**Sacrifice**

_Growing up as part of the Saiyan Royal Family came with nothing but harsh expectations. King Vegeta, her father, was a man of great pride. As a King he upheld his position flawlessly and he expected his family to do so as well. From an early age they were groomed to be stronger than any others of their age, expected to purge planets left and right, and to live life as examples of proud Saiyan Warriors. _

_Of course, this meant that for most of her life she'd been doing nothing but training, missions, and the occasional formal tournament where she and her brother were expected to do well. Her older brother had no problems, he was a genius when it came to combat as well as incredibly strong, so much that she doubted she could ever reach him; and unlike her, he was the perfect proud Saiyan, it was no wonder why he was the pride of their mother and father._

_Mara pushed away those thoughts for the moment. She was leaning against the wall of one of the corridors of the palace, her home. _

_Her father was upset again. While it wasn't a rare occurrence, this time it was more serious since he found out that she was befriended low class Saiyans. If there was one thing that her father always told them it was that a Saiyan had no need for things like friendship, they were warriors so what they needed were trusted comrades. So when he found out that she had friends and that they were weak who, according to her father were nothing more than stepping stones, he was furious. _

"_A bother as usual."_

_She flinched and stood up straight when hearing her older brother's voice. With the way he carried himself and his stern face, it was hard not to be intimidated._

"_When are you going to start acting like a real Saiyan? Father is growing more upset by the day."_

"_How am I supposed to know what's going to make him angry? How does he want me to act?"_

_Her brother, Prince Vegeta, chuckled in amusement, "Asking that is proof enough that you have no business here. You're lucky you were born with a high power level, otherwise you'd be rotting in some weak planet."_

_Mara bit her quivering lip as her brother left. Knowing all too well that he was right, she had to throw herself into training again. Hopefully if she got stronger then her father wouldn't be so angry with her._

Mara grinned confidently as she stared down Goku.

She hoped this fight would be good. Bardock's son was strong, but she knew that he didn't have a chance to beat her.

A Saiyan needs to sacrifice many things in order to be strong. Those were her father's words and she knew they were true. And while she was still easily pushed around by older Saiyans, she had become the person her father wanted around those closer to her age. Proud and strong.

With a brief smirk, she was off and shot towards him at a high speed that made his eyes widen in surprise, but he managed to compose himself and block the kick aimed at his head.

Goku grunted when he felt the force behind the kick, powerful enough to cause a small shockwave in the area, before pushing her away and throwing a flurry of punches. Mara was very used to battle so it was no problem for her to block and dodge most of the punches before lashing out with a kick that caught Goku on the side and sent him back several feet.

The boy stopped himself in the air and turned to face the girl with a worried frown on his face. He wanted to get to Yamcha quickly but this girl was a lot stronger than he thought. Even so he held out hope that his friend would be okay while he tried to end his fight.

"I don't have a lot of time to waste. I will protect my friends at all costs," he declared before taking off his wristbands and shoes.

Mara raised an eyebrow when seeing how fast the things fell, and let out a gasp when her scouter picked up a sudden spike on his power level.

"N-no way..."

Without warning, Goku shot towards her and delivered a knee to her stomach. The Saiyan princess cried out in pain from the strike before being sent hurling through the air, but the boy was not done as he followed after her with the intention to get another hit in. However, before he could get close enough, she stopped herself in the air and fired a ki blast that got him on the shoulder.

Mara gritted her teeth as she watched the boy stop and bring a hand to the large gash her attack had caused.

_'Impossible! Impossible! There's no way someone like him can be **that **strong!' _

She winced and brought a hand to her stomach, making her even angrier at what happened.

_'He's weak. **Weak**. Relying on other people, having friends, those are signs of weakness! A true Saiyan throws away these things to get stronger! There's no way I threw away so much for nothing!'_

White aura flared around her and fluttered wildly as she glared at Kakarot. It wasn't often that she was angry but when seeing the power level of this soft Saiyan, she felt furious. Pride and title be damned, there was nothing more insulting than seeing someone get so strong while still holding on to the things she threw away. It wasn't fair!

Goku brought his hands up in a defensive position with his eyes trained on his angry opponent. While her temper would give him an edge, her power easily evened things out. He couldn't even tell who was stronger between the two of them.

He pushed away those thoughts when the girl sent a glare his way and took on a fighting stance.

With a battle cry the two clashed.

* * *

Yamcha breathed heavily while standing in a fighting stance before the smirking armored man. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve but that last attack had really left him in a bad state. Thankfully nothing had been broken but he still felt like total crap.

'_I have to use the technique I've been training on,_' he decided with a somber expression.

Raditz watched the Earthling with an amused smirk, curious as to what he would be doing next. There was no need for him to stop whatever he was about to do, none of his attacks could hurt him.

"Wolf Fang Fist!"

Yamcha charged in at the Saiyan and began his attack, throwing all kind of punches and kicks but they were all blocked or dodged.

"Is this really all you can do?" Raditz asked while dodging the attacks.

"No," Yamcha answered with a grin as two orbs of ki formed on his palms and he released large twin beams of ki that met their mark.

The Saiyan cried out in pain as he was pushed several feet away before he crashed on the hot sand and kicked up a massive cloud of debris.

"You bastard!" Raditz roared in rage as he emerged from the cloud of sand while holding his right shoulder with a blood stained hand. The Earthling had aimed for his two shoulders, and his right one had been the worse off, not that his left hadn't taken damage.

Yamcha felt relieved that with his attack the armored stranger would have a harder time in moving his arms, but didn't relax his stance in the slightest. Now that he had some breathing room he wasn't about to give the opponent another edge. All things considered, it looked like he could win this fight.

He wasn't blind, he could see the tail wrapped around the armored man's waist. And even though millions of questions raced through his mind he pushed them away and focused on a single thing, catching that tail. It happened with Goku, if his tail was held then he would lose all of his strength.

So with a renewed sense of vigor, Yamcha waited for his opponent to make a move.

* * *

Clashing and moving faster than the eye could blink, Goku and Mara continued with their fight.

Neither of them seemed to have the upper hand. Even what he thought would be an advantage, her being furious, ended up not helping at all. Despite being angry, she was precise with her attacks and didn't slack on her defense at all.

The boy frowned as he blocked punch after punch before retaliating with his own but, as expected, the girl blocked them all and countered with her own.

It was no use. If they didn't do something then the fight would be prolonged much more than he wanted it too.

With that in mind Goku dropped his defense, letting a single punch catch him on the side, before using an Explosive Wave to push the girl away. This gave him a bit of breathing room as well as time to calmly think of a way to end the fight. As things were going, it didn't look like he would be able to help Yamcha or Tien.

Goku closed his eyes and emptied his mind just like Kami taught him. This was the only thing he could think of that would help him end the fight.

Mara furrowed her brow when seeing Bardock's son close his eyes, but she decided that she would take advantage of it and shot towards him. Once she got close enough, she punched at him but to her shock he moved aside and grabbed her outstretched arm before flinging her to the ground below.

The Saiyan princess tried to fight against the fall but she was going so fast that she couldn't do anything expect grit her teeth.

She crashed on the ground but was back up and flying almost instantly. Eyes blazing in anger, she tried to his the boy but he would dodge each strike. It was as though he were reading every one of her movements but that wasn't possible, his eyes were closed!

As another kick came his way, Goku caught it this time and began to spin the girl rapidly before hurling her through the air.

"Kamehameha!" Goku called out his attack as the blue beam of ki shot out of his hands and headed for the girl which resulted in a loud explosion.

He knew it wasn't enough to hurt her too badly but it would certainly give him the time he needed to go to the others.

With that done he was about to go but stopped when he felt something change in the other fights. Yamcha's opponent was much weaker than before while the one fighting Tien was still around the same.

"I should go to Tien first then."

Goku was about to leave when an explosion of ki suddenly rocked the area. Eyes widening in shock, he turned around to see Mara floating in the air with white aura flaring around her.

"We're not done fighting!"

The boy frowned, "I don't know why you're so angry but there's no point in us fighting anymore. Even if you try to show it off, your ki is dropping."

Mara clenched her fists, "Not yet. I won't lose to you!"

Goku turned his back on her, making the girl growl.

"Fighting you was fun," he said with a smile, "We should do it again. Just don't be so angry next time."

"What?"

His words were so out of the blue that her aura died down as well as her anger. While she could have followed after him to continue the fight, she instead watched him leave. Somehow fighting him now wouldn't feel right.

"Because of me you couldn't help your friends. They could have been hurt and yet, why did you try to be nice?"

Mara hung her head in defeat, suddenly overcome by a pang of sadness.

She had given up so much. Because of her wish to be stronger she was all alone and didn't feel close to anyone, even her family.

However, she couldn't blame anyone but herself. She was the one who wanted to make her family proud so much that she sacrificed her happiness for the sake of it. Thankfully it paid off in her becoming much stronger, she didn't know what would have happened if she hadn't. Maybe she would be exiled to some planet like her other brother.

But despite all of her sacrifices she still lost to Goku, someone with friends and a pure heart. He had become strong enough to fight on par with her without giving up any of the things that she had. Instead of hindering him like her father had said, his will to protect his friends had made him stronger.

A bitter smile formed on her face.

Defeat was hard to swallow, much more so when it came from someone like Goku that challenged everything she believed in. But even so, she felt like she wanted to fight him again. This time she would do things her way and see if she could become strong without her family's methods.

"Just you wait Goku, next time I'll beat you," she muttered to herself before leaving.

* * *

Tien knew he was in trouble as he continued to trade blows with a furious Nappa.

His opponent was impossible to predict anymore, his rage had taken over and he had thrown aside any sort of fighting style. Tien's finesse was starting to give out under Nappa's relentless attacks.

_'Dammit!'_ Tien cursed as one of his punches was blocked and the Saiyan retaliated with a harsh kick to his torso.

"GAH!"

Nappa laughed as he chased after the Earthling that was shot through the air. He quickly reached him and grabbed him by the leg and pulled him up so that he could see the three-eyed bastard's face.

"This is your punishment for pissing off a Saiyan," he chuckled as he brought his left arm back and punched Tien on the stomach, making him cry out in pain and spit out blood, powerless as the Saiyan continued to punch him without stop.

"Now you die," Nappa charged an attack on his right hand and pointed it as the bloody Earthling but was blindsided as a foot connected with his jaw, sending him crashing on the ground with such force that he created a crater on the ground.

Tien dropped from the sky but was caught in a pair of small arms that scooped him up under the shoulders and safely placed him on the ground.

He opened his eyes to see Goku standing over him and looking off to the distance with a glare.

"Thanks...sorry you have to help me again."

Goku looked at his friend with a smile, "We're friends, we help each other out."

"You bastard!"

Goku and Tien turned to the direction the voice came from and saw Nappa rushing towards the boy with a look of pure fury.

"I'll kill you!"

The older Saiyan punched at the boy but he easily ducked under the blow. Not done, he kicked at him but, again, he dodged this time by jumping over the strike. Growing even more frustrated, Nappa let out a scream as he let loose a barrage of punches but none made their mark, Goku dodged each one, not even needing to block.

"You're not very good are you?" Goku grinned.

"I'll make you pay! You hear me!"

Aura exploded around Nappa as he prepared to attack but before he could, Goku flickered out of sight and delivered an elbow to his stomach.

"DAMN IT!" Nappa cursed loudly as he staggered backwards.

Goku disappeared from sight again and this time delivered a kick to Nappa's face, sending him crashing against a tree.

"He won't be bothering us for a while," Goku told Tien, having sensed that the older Saiyan's ki had gone to a miniscule level, meaning that he was unconscious.

"You've gotten a lot stronger," Tien pointed out with a smile.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you took care of that guy no problem."

"Oh, it wasn't like that," Goku waved him off before giving him a Senzu Bean. "The guy was weakened and angry after fighting you, it made it easy to make him do what I wanted."

Tien stood up with a look of awe on his face. It was like he was looking at another person. Whatever training Goku was getting had made him a lot smarter than before. Maybe the boy didn't realize it himself but there was no mistaking it.

"Ah!" Goku suddenly yelled, startling Tien.

"What's wrong?"

"I almost forgot that Yamcha might need help too!"

"Then let's go," Tien decided, earning from Goku as the two took to the skies. While he wanted to ask the boy about the strange people that had suddenly appeared, making sure Yamcha was okay came first.

* * *

Yamcha charged in at Raditz, shooting a ki blast as he did but the Saiyan simple slapped it away before rushing towards him. The two clashed, one with a kick and another with a punch, but the two were mostly unaffected and began to trade blows.

Raditz was faster, much more faster and strong, so when most of his punches ended up breaking through Yamcha's defenses he had to keep an insane amount of concentration to keep on trying to block and dodge his attacks. This wasn't all for nothing, if he could get one opening then it would all be over. And it seemed like something was watching over him since the Saiyan thrust both hands forward in an attempt to fire a ki attack.

Seeing his opportunity, Yamcha dove forward as the attack was forming and just barely managed to grasp the tail with all his strength.

"Gah!"

The ki in Raditz' hands disappeared the instant the Earthling grabbed his tail.

"Ha. Ha. Gotcha now."

"Damn you! How in the hell did you know about our weakness?!" Raditz asked in shock as he kneeled over in pain.

Yamcha grinned in triumph, "Doesn't matter, this fight is over."

"Fool," Raditz smirked as he stood up straight, unaffected by the tail weakness, and elbowed Yamcha on the face, sending him crashing on the dunes. "Saiyans get rid of this weakness in their childhood! There's no way a warrior like me could have such a glaring weakness!"

The Saiyan shot towards Yamcha and pinned him to the sand with by stomping on his chest. "Now you'll pay for actually hurting me."

Screams of pain soon filled the area as Raditz stomped on Yamcha's chest and fired small ki beams at his arms. This went on for a few moments until the Saiyan was satisfied.

"We agreed that there would be no killing but you were just begging for it earlier," Raditz chuckled as he began to charge an attack but was distracted when his scouter started to beep wildly. "Huh?"

Looking in the direction in which the scouter detected something, he found two power levels moving towards him, fast.

"You're in luck, I have to beat whoever is coming too."

Raditz stepped away from Yamcha and waited for the two power levels with a smirk on his face.

It didn't take long for the two to get there, at least it seemed that way to Yamcha since he was drifting in and out of consciousness. When he noticed the two figured floating high in the air a wave of relief shot through him.

"So it was you Kakarot?" Raditz frowned.

Goku looked to the bloody form of Yamcha before glaring at the Saiyan.

"What this? Are you angry at me hurting your weak friend?" Raditz laughed.

"Tien, go give Yamcha a Senzu Bean," Goku instructed as he gave Tien the bag he had tied around his belt.

"Oh no you don't," Raditz said as he moved towards Tien. He remembered the strange food Kakarot had given the little bald human and he wasn't about to let them heal the weakling he had been fighting.

Tien's eyes widened in alarm when he saw the Saiyan moving towards him at a terrifying speed but, moving faster than he could see, Goku intercepted him and delivered a powerful punch to his face that sent him crushing on the sand.

"I won't let you hurt any more of my friends!" Goku declared, eyes burning in anger.

Raditz wiped away the blood flowing freely out of his nose and checked his scouter to see what he was dealing with. He really wished he hadn't checked his scouter since what he saw made his blood run cold, "I-Impossible! S-sixteen thousand?!"

Goku had no idea what the Saiyan was talking about and was about to attack but stopped when he sensed something moving their way. He turned his head in the direction of the ki signature and in just seconds Bardock appeared before them with a look of anger on his face.

"Father?"

"I told you that there would be no harming the Earthlings," Bardock growled at his oldest son, "We had an agreement, how dare you spit on it?"

Raditz visually shrunk at the commanding voice of his father.

"It won't happen again Kakarot," the older Saiyan said in a gruff voice mostly directed at Raditz, "I'll make sure of it."

After saying that the two left, leaving Goku alone with Tien and a fully healed Yamcha.

"That guy was crazy strong but that other guy looked much stronger," Yamcha said in amazement.

Tien nodded in agreement and then turned to Goku, "Could you tell us what's going on? Who are those people and why do they know you?"

Seeing as his friends were safe now, Goku decided to tell them about everything.

* * *

"Who the hell do you think you are to go against a direct order from me?" Bardock asked Raditz as the two flew back to where they had made camp. "I gave my word that no harm would come to the Earthlings but you ended up doing it anyway."

Raditz fought the urge to scoff, "They're just weaklings. I don't see why we can't kill them."

"Because that would make us Kakarot's enemies. And what have I taught you about loyalties?"

"You said that family came first, even before Planet Vegeta."

"Exactly so get your head out of your ass and don't do stupid shit."

* * *

"So you only have a couple of months until you that really intimidating guy?" Yamcha asked once Goku finished his explanation.

"Yeah," he answered with a grin, "Don't worry, I'm training really hard to get stronger."

"I will too," Tien decided, "This time I won't let the fate of the Earth rest solely on your shoulders. I'm going to get stronger so that I can help you when the time comes."

Yamcha smiled at that, "Don't count me out just yet. I'm going to train like crazy so that we can make sure nothing happens to this world."

Goku laughed eagerly, "Let's give it our all!"

* * *

**Power Levels:**

Goku – 16,000

Tien – 11,500

Yamcha – 11,200

Raditz – 13,000

_Weakened –_ 11,500

Nappa – 14,000

_Weakened –_ 13,500

Mara – 16,000

_Weakened _\- 14,500

Bardock (Holding Back) – 20,000


	9. Temple Showdown

**So here's the new chapter guys, I took out the April Fools chapter since it was just a one time thing. But I guess if you really liked it I could include it as an omake at the end of the chapter or something...**

**Anyway, time to answer some questions:**

**Will Goku face off against Vegeta someday? **

**Of course he will. Their rivalry is something I don't dare to touch.**

**What vegetable is Mara's name supposed to be a pun of?**

**To be completely honest, I just went to google and typed list of vegetables. The first one I noticed on the list was Amaranth, so I decided to take part of it and make it a name. **

**So that's that. Thanks a lot for reviewing, it really helps me push through and write. **

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 9**

**Temple Showdown**

Things had changed over the two weeks since Goku fought Nappa and Raditz.

His training, though very challenging, was beginning to get a lot more intense. While he only had to train with weighted wristbands and boots before, now he had added weight on most of his body. Kami had given him a red uniform that looked identical to his old one but had the ability to adjust it's weight. He didn't know the specifics of how it worked, but he'd been taught how to add or remove weight.

His mom still came to visit constantly to teach him all sorts of things and even help give advice on his training under Kami. Recently, as a way to prepare for the fight with his father, Gine had begun to teach him the fighting style that she and Bardock used. It was a lot different than what he was used to since it was an all-out offensive style but his mom explained that it would help him read Bardock better when the time came.

So like always, Goku's days revolved around training and some studies, something that he didn't look forward to at all. Mr. Popo was told to teach him basic things but he loathed every second of sitting there while reading over boring things. Kami had told him that it was a good way for him to rest between his training sessions. He was like Master Roshi in this particular case, in that he believed that rest was just as important as the actual training, as such he gave him a couple of days off per week.

Today, like the other days he had off, Goku sat at the edge of the lookout, kicking his feet with a smile on his face. Around a week ago he had gotten a very unexpected visitor. Their conversation was short and to the point but they both agreed to spar.

Speaking of which, he could feel someone coming from below and sure enough there she was.

"Ready?" Mara asked with her arms crossed as soon as she landed beside him. Before he could answer, she tapped on the floor curiously and looked around the place, "Hmm... I still can't get over how strange this place is. There doesn't appear to be any type of technology keeping this thing afloat..."

"Mom said the same thing," Goku laughed and got up quickly, "Let's go find a place to spar in."

Mara grinned slightly and pushed a couple of buttons on her scouter, making her furrow her brow in confusion, "Why are you so weak right now?"

"Hm?"

"The scouter is giving me a totally different power level than before. You're not suppressing your ki are you?"

"Ah..." Goku finally understood what she meant. "It's probably because my clothes weight a lot more than I'm used to." When seeing the disbelief on her face, he decided to demonstrate by taking off an arm band and letting it drop on the floor, causing a loud impact that left a small crater on the tiled floor. "See," he said as he put the band back on, "It takes a while to get used to, but it's good for training."

Mara nodded, "That seems useful... Find me a set of those weighted garments as well."

"Gar-mints? Like a food?"

"Clothes," she deadpanned.

"Oh, why didn't you say so?" Goku chuckled, "Do you want them right now?"

"Right now," she answered with her hands on her hips. "I'm not about to fight you under such unbalanced circumstances. Find me some weighted clothes so that neither of us has an advantage."

Goku cocked his head to the side, not catching some of her words, but shrugged regardless, "Sure, let's go ask Kami to get you some."

* * *

Mara had to admit that people of Earth were very crafty and interesting.

The old Namek had used some strange technique to make an exact replica of her Saiyan armor but with the ability to change its weight. While those in Planet Vegeta had been enamored with the discovery of powerful technology, it didn't come anywhere close to this level of simpleness.

"You ready?"

She heard Goku ask. They were both in the middle of a clearing near Korin's Tower (whoever that was).

"I'm ready. Come at me."

The boy hesitated and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile, "Are you sure?"

"Of course!"

"Uh..." The more Goku looked at Mara the more he knew that she was in no position to fight. Not only was she not in a ready stance but her whole body was shaking under the weight of the clothes. She could barely move!

He crossed his arms and grinned, "Let's wait for you to get used to the weight first."

* * *

"It seems that you were correct sire, King Piccolo has been killed."

"I see," a smirk formed under the hood of a small figure standing on a mountain with a view of Korin's Tower in the distance.

His seven followers stood behind him while also sporting clothes that kept their features hidden.

"There is a large probability that Kami is dead now..." The eyes of the small figure narrowed as he thought of what to do. "We will pay a visit to Kami's Lookout. Dead or alive, we should find something interesting there."

The others chuckled darkly as their leader led them up the sky.

* * *

"Good, you're getting better," Goku praised, though he was mostly glad that Mara was beginning to put up a good fight. It took a few moments and tries but she got the hang of it really quickly, now an hour into their spar she was picking up speed.

"I don't need your praise," she grunted as she threw a punch but the boy caught it on his fist before he grabbed her arm with the intention to fling her over his shoulder. Not about to let him do that, she bent her body as he held her in the air, and managed to land a kick on the back of his head.

Surprised, Goku staggered forward while holding his head in pain and just barely managed to jump to the side in order to avoid being kicked on the back. Mara skidded to a stop from the momentum of her kick, and pushed off the ground to fly at him. The boy grinned as he ducked under her incoming punch and grabbed her outstretched arm with his tail.

Mara let out a startled yelp as she was pulled downwards and crashed on the ground.

"Gotcha," Goku laughed with a toothy grin.

"We're not done yet," Mara said with a click of her tongue as she dusted off her armor and put on a fighting stance, "This has just begun."

The two Saiyans faced each other with eagerness in their eyes but Goku suddenly looked upwards with a serious look on his face.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked. It was more than obvious now that he had the ability to sense power levels just as accurately as any scouter. An ability like that could be useful...

"There's several strong people heading straight for Kami... They don't feel friendly," he muttered the last part to himself with a frown, "Sorry Mara, but I have to go see what's going on."

She scoffed and crossed her arms, "I might as well go too. Who knows? Maybe I'll find a decent fight up there."

Goku smiled at her and nodded, "Let's go, but we should stop for some Senzu Beans on the way. Just in case."

"Senzu Beans?"

"No time to explain, I'll tell you later."

With that the two took off to the sky.

* * *

Mr. Popo hummed to himself with a smile as he watered the plans on Kami's Lookout. With Goku having a day off, things were a lot more peaceful, not that he minded the boy living with them.

Finished with the watering for now, he reaches for a pair of clippers but stopped when he heard several feet touch down behind him. Expecting Goku with some friends, he turned and was surprised to see several hooded figures standing there with smirks on their faces.

"I take it your Kami's aid," the smallest of the hooded figures said in an amused stone as he stepped forwards confidently, "Tell me, is he dead?"

"Who are you?" Mr. Popo asked in a clam matter.

The leader smirked, "No matter. I will go see for myself. Nicky. Salt."

Two of the hooded figured stepped forward with smirks on their faces.

"Take care of him."

Both chuckled as they took off their hoods.

Mr. Popo watched as the supposed leader strutted towards the temple with his followers and charged in towards him, fully intent on stopping the threat before it could reach Kami. However, he was forced to flip in the air and put up both of his arms to block a kick from one of the two that were staying behind to fight him.

"You're fights with us," Nicky chuckled as Mr. Popo skidded to a stop from the force of behind the kick.

"You won't survive," Salt laughed.

Knowing that he could not stop the leader until he dealt with his followers, Mr. Popo put up a fighting stance and prepared to fight.

* * *

Kami sat on his chair as he watched the hooded figures step into his chambers.

"So you really are alive," the leader said in amusement, "Good. This way I can kill you myself."

"Who are you?"

"You don't know?" He pulled back his hood, revealing a familiar face. "I have come because I heard your other half died. Tell me, how is it that you are still alive—no—that doesn't matter. You're about to die after all."

Kami stood up, "Garlic Jr."

Garlic Jr. smirked, "Precisely. Now prepare to die."

* * *

"Dammit! What the hell is this guy!?" Yelled Nicky as he pushed himself off the floor to glare at the blank faced Mr. Popo.

Salt also had similar sentiments as the strange man was proving to be very difficult to kill. It was like he could glance at the future and evade all of their attacks. "We'll attack together this time," he said before charging in.

Joining the attack, Nicky punched at Mr. Popo while Salt tried to sweep his legs from under him. The strange man was quick to jump and put up both of his arms to block the punch, however, this was what Salt was counting on as he threw an uppercut. Kami's aid saw through this though and brought up his knee to block the attack before pointing the palm of his hand at him and releasing a Ki Canon that sent him flying back.

Nicky cursed at what he was seeing and then fired a large ki blast at the enemy. Despite his appearance, Mr. Popo easily evaded the attack by jumping over it but was blindsided as another blast exploded against his back.

"Since Lord Garlic Jr. is fighting and doesn't want any of us to interfere, I decided to see what was taking you guys so long," said Ginger with a smirk as he retracted his right hand into his dark red cloak.

Mr. Popo breathed heavily as he stood up to face three opponents, but just when things were beginning to look grim for him, a shining glimmer of light came in the form of Goku and the Saiyan girl he had gone to spar with, as they touched down on the floor.

"Mr. Popo, what's happening?" Goku asked when seeing the strange man and Mr. Popo looking somewhat injured.

"Who is this brat?" Salt sneered.

Nicky smirked, "It doesn't matter. Anyone foolish enough to stand against us deserves to die."

"They're bad guys," Goku decided with a frown as he put on a fighting stance. "Go back to wherever you came from. If you do then I'll let you go."

Ginger, Nicky, and Salt laughed at the words of the boy.

"You talk big brat," Ginger said in amusement.

Goku narrowed his eyes and disappeared from view. Much to the shock of Garlic Jr.'s followers who could do nothing as Goku reappeared in front of Salt and elbowed him on the stomach.

"I-Impossible..." Nicky gaped as he watched Salt fall on the floor unconscious.

The boy then met the eyes of the two left, "I'll tell you again. Leave this place or I won't hold back."

Mara fought the urge to scuff at Goku. She had seen his movements and knew that he hadn't tried to kill the fool he elbowed even though he could have done it easily. Everyday life was one thing, but to show this amount of compassion during a fight was beyond ludicrous to her.

"You'll pay for that brat!" Nicky roared in rage as he tried to punch the boy, but he easily caught the strike and then pulled him over his shoulder to slam him on the ground and knock him out.

"I see you're not all talk," Ginger stated, not feeling too intimidated by the boy. Producing a couple of scimitars from his hood, he charged in at the boy, "Show me how strong you are!"

Goku ducked and weaved the slashes with the intent to cut him in half. From the sidelines, Mara felt impressed at what she was seeing. Bardock's son was light on his feet despite the monstrous weight on his clothes and had good reflexes to the point where it looked like he could read his opponents mind. He was doing the thing he did against her, she noticed, predicting each strike with deadly accuracy.

The boy finally leaned out of the way of one of the swipes and retaliated with a powerful Ki Canon that sent the enemy flying through the air before finally crashing against one of the walls of the temple.

"It's not over yet," Mr. Popo warned as four more enemies emerged from the temple.

Their leader, Spice, frowned when seeing the unconscious bodies on the floor and the three people still standing.

"Who are you two?" He asked, referring to Goku and Mara.

The boy stepped forward but was stopped by Mara, who halted him by grabbing his shoulder and walking forward with a smirk.

"You already had your fun, it's my turn," she said before cracking her knuckles.

"Feeling strong girly?" Said the biggest of the group, Vinegar.

The Saiyan smirked at that, "That's adorable, you actually think you're strong."

Goku cocked his head to the side at what he was seeing. Was this how she acted around enemies? She sorta reminded him of how that Raditz and that Nappa guy had acted.

"I don't know what planet you're from," she began with a grin before dropping into her fighting stance, "But I'll show you the difference between our power."

* * *

Garlic Jr. laughed as he fired a barrage of ki blasts that Kami was forced to dodged by jumping from side to side. As the guardian of Earth was in mid-air, he fired twin beams of ki from his eyes, causing Garlic Jr. to cease his attack and dodge by running at a fast speed across the spacious room of the temple.

The small demon smirked as he continued to run before jumping towards Kami and headbutting him on the chest. Not done, he prepared a ki blast on his right hand and put it on the Namek's stomach. The ki attack pushed Kami across the room until it finally exploded once he crashed on the wall.

"There is no chance for you to win," Garlic Jr. said with a laugh as he approached Kami, who was helplessly standing against the wall, and let loose a flurry of punches on the helpless guardian of Earth.

Just then, as he was getting ready to deliver the final blow, one of his servants suddenly crashed into the room, following shortly after by three others.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"Too strong..." muttered Sansho as he and the others shakily got on their feet.

Garlic Jr. narrowed his eyes just as a human girl stepped into the room through the hole on the wall.

"Where's that cockiness from earlier?" Mara asked with an amused smile.

The evil dwarf glared at the girl, "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter," she answered as she was joined by Kami's servant and a boy with spiky black hair. "You're about to die, no point in you knowing, am I right?"

Garlic Jr. frowned but suddenly broke into a smirk. "I'm afraid my servants will prove more than a match for you."

"Huh? I just beat these four idiots, how could they be a match for me?" Asked Mara with a cocky grin.

"You fool!" Garlic Jr. laughed as he pointed a hand at the ceiling. He then fired a ki blast at it, creating a large hole that gave them a clear view of the sky up above. "You might not be aware but every five-thousand years my home world, the source of my power, gets close to Earth."

Goku and Mara noticed a tiny red speck on the sky as the demon continued to laugh.

"The closer it gets, the more powerful we become," as he said that, ki flared around him and his body began to convulse, as did those of the others.

To Mara, this was very familiar, comparable to how her kind was able to transform under the full moon.

"Don't even hope that you can stall long enough for the planet to be gone, it takes it at least a century before it passes Earth!"

The tiny form of the evil demon began to expand until he was standing over all of them in a big muscular form that radiated power. Both Goku and Mara could feel the difference in their powers and knew they were in deep trouble, but to make matters worse, Garlic Jr.'s servants began to grow in size as well, radiating the same kind of power.

"Mara," Goku called to her with a frown on his face, "Let's fight them with all our power."

Mara smirked and, as instructed by Kami when he gave her the clothes, pressed a hand to her right shoulder and pushed ki into it so that the added weight would disappear. "Now you're talking," she said as the weight pushing down on her body disappeared, leaving her feeling as light as a feather.

Goku did the same as well, pressing a hand to his chest and making the clothes go back to normal. "You're not the only ones that can get stronger," the boy said as he disappeared from sight.

Garlic Jr. smirked as he punched to his right, catching Goku square on the face and sending him crashing against the room's walls. Mara frowned at that and charged in at the large demon only for him to dash towards her and kick her on the chest, sending her flipping through the air. The Saiyan Princess managed to regain her balance and stop herself on the air but was then struck by a pair of kicks, courtesy of Garlic Jr.'s followers, that sent her crashing on the ground.

At the same time, Mr. Popo was forced on the defensive as Mustard and Vinegar attacked him at the same time with a flurry of punches and kicks. It didn't take long for the two to break through his defenses and send him crashing out of the room.

"That was too easy," Garlic Jr. smirked as he moved over to Kami once again but was stopped by a ki blast exploding on his back. "Huh?" Unaffected, he turned in the direction of the blast to see the boy glaring at him with his right hand outstretched.

"We'll kill him sire," said Spice as he and the other four transformed henchman, faced the boy.

Goku grinned and placed hinds hands at the side of his eyes, "Solar Flare!"

A blinding flash suddenly engulfed the area, making Garlic Jr. and his followers cry out in pain while shielding their eyes.

"Dammit! I'm blind! I'm blind!" Cried Sansho as he staggered backwards.

"Kill the brat!" Garlic Jr. roared.

Not wasting any of the time he had just gained, Goku stretched out his hands and looked at Mara, who caught the silent message with a smirk. She quickly moved to his side and stretched out her hands again before the two of them formed twin balls of ki that resonated with power.

The two knew that no normal attack could take down the transformed enemies, so they tried to put all they had into the attacks for as long as the enemies were blinded. It didn't take long for Garlic Jr. to regain his sight, and what he saw made him freeze.

"Now!" Goku and Mara exclaimed as the two attacks shot out of their hands and merged together into a powerful beam of ki that tore through the air.

"Dammit!" Garlic Jr. screamed as he and his henchman were caught in a powerful explosion.

Debris from the explosion and a massive hole on the temple's wall filled the area as Goku and Mara panted in exhaustion.

"That was dangerous," Kami's weak voice scolded while being supported by Mr. Popo, who had gone to move him away from the blast though they didn't manage to make it out unscathed.

Goku chuckled weakly but froze, as did Kami and Mr. Popo, when they felt an evil ki from within the cloud of debris.

"You insolent runt!" Garlic Jr. roared in fury as he emerged from the explosion with various wounds and charred marks over his body.

Without warning he shot forward and kneed Goku on the face before spinning in place and backhanding Mara with such force that she swore she blacked out for a moment. The demon then grabbed a staggering Goku and lifted him off the floor by the hair.

"I'm going to make you pay for hurting me!" He growled as he began to punch the boy on the face over and over with every intention of beating him to death. However, before he could get far, Kami and Mr. Popo joined forced to push him away and free Goku from his grasp.

The boy fell on the floor as Kami and Mr. Popo fought Garlic Jr. As that was going on, he reached into the pouch tied to his belt and took out a Senzu Bean. He popped it into his mouth and quickly chewed when he felt the fading ki signature outside. The healing couldn't come fast enough as he rushed outside as soon as his body allowed him to move.

He easily spotted Mara laying on the floor, half-conscious with a trail of blood coming out of her mouth. "Eat this, it'll make you feel better," he said as he placed the Senzu Bean on her mouth.

She seemed a bit hesitant at first but finally chewed and swallowed. The effect was almost instant, so much so that she couldn't help but sit up with a look of disbelief as he touched her face and neck, finding nothing wrong with them. Not only that, but she felt a lot stronger than before, probably the Zenkai kicking in.

"W-What was that?"

"It's a Senzu Bean but I'll tell you more about it later," Goku assured. He then turned towards the temple with a serious look on his face, "We have something to take care of."

Mara understood and smirked, "I'll pay the bastard back for hurting me like that."

With that the two shot towards the temple where they found Garlic Jr. overpowering Kami and Mr. Popo. So focused on fighting them, he didn't see a foot coming towards him until it was too late and it connected with the side of his face. The demon was sent flying and before he could gather himself, Mara appeared behind him to smack him down with both hands.

"W-Who..?" Garlic Jr. let out as he slowly got back on his feet to see the two brats that he had almost killed mere moments ago fully healed. "Impossible!"

"Looks like your first time meeting a Saiyan will also be your last," Mara smirked as she shot forward with a speed she did not have before and landed a ferocious kick to Garlic Jr.'s abdomen. As soon as her two feet touched the ground, she was on the offensive, letting loose a barrage of strikes that the demon could not defend himself against. Finally, she finished the attack by ducking over him and using a ki blast to send him high in the air to where Goku was waiting.

"N-No! Dammit! NOOOO!" Garlic Jr. seethed when he saw the boy had prepared an attack.

"Kamehameha!"

The blue beam of ki shot out of Goku's hands and blasted the demon into tiny pieces.

Kami watched the scene from below and didn't know whether he should feel relieved or concern. Not for Goku, he trusted his student with his life, but of the girl Saiyan. She had grown much stronger than she was just minutes ago. He could tell the same happened with Goku and that's when a thought hit him. Could it be that those of Goku's race grew stronger after being healed from major injuries?

"I feel stronger now!" Goku smiled as he landed on the lookout to join Mara, who placed her hands on her hips with a grin.

"Of course you did. Didn't you know that we Saiyans grow stronger after healing from injuries?"

Goku nodded in amazement, "Wow. No wonder you guys are so strong. I bet you fought a lot of people before coming here, huh?"

"Warriors from several planets," she answered with a hint of pride. If there was one thing she was proud of it was her victories across space. Though she came nowhere close to her older brother when it came to victories or lust for battle, she still had her Saiyan pride. "All with their own strange techniques."

Seeing the wonder in Goku's eyes, she continued.

"But I have to give this planet credit, they have some of the strangest techniques I've ever seen. Speaking of which, what was that thing—Senzu Bean—you called it."

"It's a food that heals any injury in seconds and can fill you up for a whole week," Goku explained, though he didn't fully believed that Senzu Beans could actually keep him from being hungry.

Mara nodded with an impressed expression. Senzu Beans were ideal for Saiyans, their healing properties could be exploited in order to get stronger much faster. But there had to be some kind of catch, something so incredible had to have a downside.

"Are there any side-effects?"

The boy cocked his head to the side, something he did whenever he didn't understand something.

She sighed but explained, "Is there a downside to these Senzu Beans?"

"Oh," he smiled before putting on a thoughtful face, "Downside... Well, all I can think of is that they take a while to grow and when they do, it's only a couple. The reason I've been getting Senzu Beans so easily is because they were rarely used before."

So that's what it was, they took a while to grow. Well, she supposed she would keep their existence a secret from the others. Who knows what someone like Nappa would do with the information?

"Well," she began as she pressed on her right shoulder to add weight to the clothes until they were heavy enough for her to have trouble standing. "Even though we just fought, I feel great. What do you say, should we spar?"

Goku grinned and added weight to his clothes. With a grimace, he stepped toward and put on a fighting stance, "Let's do it."

Kami smiled slightly as he watched the two spar. It seemed they were okay for now, and with Goku getting stronger things didn't look so grim. But that's enough worrying about the two, for now he had to put his temple back together and think about what to do with the two unconscious Garlic Jr. followers on the lookout.

* * *

Down below at a small village at the foot of a mountain, an elderly man smiled as he and his adopted son walked back home after picking up some fresh water from the nearby river that flowed down the mountain. His old bones were thankful to his son for carrying the gallons of water on his back without problem.

His adopted son was special to say the least even though he had been very violent and unruly when they first took him home.

First of all he did not eat. That had been a hassle to figure out as they thought he was horribly sick whenever he vomited after eating something. As it turned out the only thing he needed to consume was water, which was plentiful in their village.

Secondly, his boy had grown at an insane amount of time. Only a couple of months ago he was a newborn baby, but now he could not only walk and talk but he was as tall as the average four-year-old.

Finally Piccolo—the name he'd given them after a week when they didn't know what to call him—had hatched from a large egg that they at first thought came from a dinosaur.

But despite these strange quirks, he and his wife loved him like a son.

The man was brought out of his thoughts when a green hand pulled him away from a large rock that would surely make him trip.

"Watch out Pop," Piccolo said. At his old age, a simple fall could really hurt him. Seriously, why did he have his head on the clouds so often?

"Sorry. Sorry," the old man chuckled with a fond smile, "Thank you son."

* * *

**Power Levels:**

**Goku** – 4,000

_Full Power –_ 17,000

_Beaten –_ 100

_Zenkai –_ 19,000

**Mara** – 2,000

_Full Power –_ 17,400

_Beaten –_ 2

_Zenkai –_ 20,000

**Joint Attack –** 18,000

**Mr. Popo** – 12,000

**Kami** – 15,000

**Garlic Jr.** – 15,500

_Transformed –_ 18,500

**Ginger** – 14,000

_Transformed –_ 17,000

**Sansho** – 13,500

_Transformed –_ 16,500

**Mustard** – 14,000

_Transformed –_ 17,000

**Vinegar **– 14,000

_Transformed –_ 17,000

**Spice** – 14,500

_Transformed –_ 17,500

**Nicky –** 13,000

**Salt –** 12,000

**Piccolo –** 500


	10. Greetings

**Sorry for the long wait but time flew by before I even knew it. **

**For some reason I had a lot of trouble in writing this next chapter so I wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible.**

**That's all for now. Thanks a lot to those of you who reviewed, it means a lot.**

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 10**

**Greetings**

After only two months things had gone back to normal in Kami's Lookout.

Goku's training continued to grow more intense, now sparring against several doll copies of himself on a regular basis. Kami offered his advice every time he could while Mr. Popo watered the trees and flowers just beginning to grow back in the garden.

"That's enough for today Goku," Kami said, impressed at how the boy lasted much longer against the dolls. He still couldn't beat them but he was starting to develop better reflexes and new says to fight. It wasn't lost on him how the spars lasted much longer than before.

The boy wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead and smiled at his teacher, "Hey Kami, do you think I can leave now that I'm done?"

"You were going to meet up with your friends," the guardian recalled. While before the Saiyans arrived he had no intention of letting Goku go see his friends, thinking that it would only affect his training, he did not think so now. If things developed badly then this was the only chance the boy had to be with them. "Fine. Tomorrow is your day off so don't worry about coming back early. Just make sure you're here the day after tomorrow."

"No problem," the boy grinned and ran off, "See you later Kami. Bye Mr. Popo!"

Mr. Popo smiled at the boy who waved as he jumped down the lookout and gave him a small wave of his own.

Once the boy was gone, Kami put on a more serious expression. Goku's progress was outstanding but, was it enough?

Bardock seemed very strong, even while suppressing his power, he was the strongest being he had ever felt. There was no telling if he would actually go through with his plans to take Goku and end life on Earth.

Even so, not all hope was lost. There was still something else he could do.

In the case that Goku wasn't strong enough to stop his father, then maybe with the help of a very unlikely source they could save the Earth. This was nothing but a passing thought at the moment but maybe he could find _him _later on and see if they could strike up a truce until the threat of the Saiyans was over.

* * *

Flying through the air at a high speed, Goku moved in the direction of his mother's ki.

Somehow getting the message to Korin, the talking cat had told him that his friends were planning to meet up in Bulma's house. Because if had been a long time since he had last seen them, and even Kami said it was okay to go for the sake of taking it easy, Goku was more than glad to go. He also saw it as a chance to introduce his mom to them. Other than Krillin, no one had met her yet.

It didn't take him long to fly over a forest where, in a large clearing with a river crossing through it, he could see five space pods gathered in a circle. Not far from them, on the other side of the river, he spotted the Saiyans sitting around a couple of giant fish roasting over a fire.

His mom was the first to spot him since she had learned to sense ki and, as he descended, the others looked at him with much different expressions.

While his father and Mara looked at him with neutral expressions, it was hard to miss the anger in Nappa and Raditz.

"What are you doing here?" Gine asked with a smile, pleasantly surprise with her son visiting.

"My friends are getting together in Bulma's house, I wanted them to meet you. They'll have food and everything!"

His mom laughed gently, "Fine I'll go with you. I wanted to meet the friends you've told me so much about."

Goku nodded with a grin before noticing Mara looking at him.

"You can come too if you want."

The Saiyan princess crossed her arms and smirked, "Very well. Though it is only because human interactions interest me."

He still had no idea what she said sometimes but it looked like she was okay with it. Deciding to put away any doubt, he grinned and took to the skies, "Let's go."

The sudden burst of power did not go unnoticed by Bardock's scouter, who watched his youngest son leave with a smirk on his face.

_'He's much stronger than before. Though he's suppressing his power, it is higher than the average Saiyan.' _

He crossed his arms and sat on the ground.

With the date of their fight getting closer, he couldn't wait to see how much stronger his youngest could get.

* * *

"Wow, your house is huge," said Krillin upon entering the enormous yellow building.

"Some of the others already got here," Bulma informed as the two walked through a large hall before finally going through a large glass door and into a massive garden that looked more like a small forest.

Next to a large pond, standing next to a large table with several chairs, were Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong.

"Look, it's Krillin!" Puar exclaimed happily.

"Long time no see," Oolong greeted with a smile.

"How's it been?" Yamcha grinned.

Krillin waved at his friends before joining them, "Not bad. I've been training all this time and making good progress."

"Humph. You make it sound like I did nothing but laze around." Yamcha said with a confident smile that broke slightly when he remembered something, "Lazing around is something that I can't do, not with _those _guys around."

"_Them_ huh?" Krillin nodded in morbid understanding. "There's only a few months left until Goku had to fight that guy..."

Yamcha put on a determined smile and gave a thumbs up, "Hey man, don't worry about that. Tien and I have decided to train as hard as we can so that when the times comes, we'll help Goku. Can't let the fate of the world be on his hands all the time, can we?"

"He's right," the newly arrived Tien said as he and Chiatzu approached the group. "Things won't be like last time with King Piccolo."

Krillin let out a sigh and shook his head, "If you guys are so into it then I guess that I have to give training my all too."

"You probably were slacking off this whole time," Chiatzu teased in a joking manner.

"Shut it," Krillin snapped, making the others laugh.

* * *

Bulma grinned to herself as he walked to the main entrance of her home to inform whoever was there to tell her when someone else arrived. However it seemed like it would be unnecessary since she saw the familiar spiky haired boy walk through the glass doors that opened when he got closed enough. Just like last time, the action made him stop on his tracks and look at the doors in wonder.

The action caused Bulma to smile, even though he appeared a tiny bit taller, he was still the curious boy she had met in the mountains.

Before she could greet him, she noticed that he wasn't alone. Following after him was a girl a little taller than him, as well as a young woman that couldn't be much older than she was. What stood out about the two was the strange armor they were wearing.

"Oh! Bulma!" Goku noticed her and ran to her with a smile, "There you are!"

Bulma smiled in response and ruffled the boy's hair, "Hey, good to see you again. The others are waiting inside. By the way, who did you bring with you?"

"Oh yeah," the boy put a hand behind his head and laughed. He had forgotten about introducing them to Bulma. "This is my mom and Mara."

"I see. Nice to meet y-What!?" Bulma exclaimed once she heard the boy introduce the two. Never mind the fact that he said it so nonchalantly, as if he was expecting her to know them already, but Goku had a mother? She never knew that.

"It's good to meet you," Gine said with a friendly smile that Bulma had seen many times mirrored on Goku's face. "My son has told me a lot about you. My name is Gine. Thank you for looking after him."

Surprised by the sudden gratitude, Bulma blushed, "S-Sure no problem." Turning her attention to Goku's other guest she looked at her oddly, "Is this your sister?"

"Of course not," Mara answered, as if offended.

"She's a friend," Goku said, earning a glare from the Saiyan Princess.

Bulma had no idea how any of this happened but decided to put it in the back of her mind for now. Seeing Goku smile as he pulled on Gine's arm to point that things that peaked his interest, she couldn't help but smile herself. It was good that he finally met his mother.

The young genius led the three to the gardens, gaining the attention of the others that tensed up when seeing who they were with.

"G-Goku?" Krillin let out in a trembling voice.

It wasn't lost on him or any of the others that he had come with two of the people that were looking to destroy Earth.

"Hey guys!" Goku greeted with a bright smile, "This is my mom and Mara."

Bulma brought a hand to her forehead. Goku had not gotten any better at reading the mood. Couldn't he see that the others were tense for some reason?

"Your mom!?" Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong let out in surprise.

* * *

After the initial shock wore off and the group sat around a very large table with all sorts of food, the party had begun. Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin were still a bit apprehensive but since Goku seemed perfectly normal, they decided that the two Saiyans were friendly.

"So how has your training been Goku?" Krillin asked, wanting to clear the silence.

The boy continued to eat and gave his friend a muffled reply that made his friends laugh.

"Leave it to Goku to lighten the mood," Oolong said with a laugh.

Goku finally swallowed his food and grinned at his friend, "I said that it's going great! I'm learning a lot from Kami!"

"Kami?" Tien wondered to himself quietly.

"We should have a sparring tournament, this place is big enough?" Yamcha proposed. "I'm dying to show you guys what I've learned. What do you guys say?"

"Sounds good," Krillin agreed.

Bulma sighed as the others seemed okay with the idea, "Fine, just don't destroy anything."

"No energy attacks then," Tien decided as he got off his chair.

Yamcha got up as well and began to stretch, "So how are we going to decide who fights who?"

"Let's see," Krillin muttered to himself as he began to count those that were going to spar. With Tien, Yamcha, Chiatzu, and – even though he didn't stop eating – Goku, there were five of them. "There's only five of us."

Swallowing and without looking up from his food, Goku spoke, "Mara will fight too, so there's six."

His four friends looked at him oddly before turning to the Saiyan girl sitting at the far end of the table with a scowl on her face.

"Why do I have to take part in this?"

Goku stopped eating briefly and gave her a grin, "It'll be fun. These guys are strong."

"I really doubt it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tien asked with an irked raised voice.

The Saiyan instantly tensed up and looked down, "Eh? Um... I didn't..."

"Let's decide who goes first!" Goku cut in as he put down his final place and stood up.

Gine watched the scene from her chair, feeling proud of her son for keeping peace. Saiyans were known to make comments like the one Mara made, but it looked like she was still doing bad with adults. Even so, the thing that confused her was the Goku's friend wasn't a Saiyan so why did she have that reaction? Could it be because she couldn't kill this Tien person?

"Okay, let's decide with this!" Yamcha had six toothpicks on his hands, painted in either red, blue, or yellow at the bottom. "We'll draw a stick and whoever matches a color has to spar."

Everyone reached for a toothpick and pulled it out at the same time.

Yamcha would spar with Tien.

Krillin with Chiatzu.

And Goku with Mara, who seemed content with the match.

For the Saiyan Princess, he was the only of the bunch that could give her a fight. Even with the restriction of not using energy attacks, it would be a good way for her to train and see how much she had improved lately.

In the end it was decided that the two smallest ones would be fighting first, followed by her and Goku. As an added rule, a large square was made on the ground. Whoever stepped over it would lose the match automatically.

Once the first fight started, she had to admit that the two of them used pretty good forms. The bald human had a very familiar stance that Goku used on occasion, while the pale white one – who was very rare for a human, if he even was one – took on a more offensive stance.

The fight began with Krillin charging forward and aiming a punch at Chiatzu, who blocked by slapping the hand away and retaliated by twisting his body and kicking the opponent on the shoulder. Krillin gritted his teeth, not expecting the power behind the kick, before he planted both feet on the ground before kicking off of it and throwing a kick of his own. It looked like the small white fighter wasn't expecting that as he took the attack on the stomach and was thrown back several feet.

Not wanting to give him a chance to recover, Krillin charged in once again but Chiatzu stopped himself in mid-air before rushing towards his opponent.

What followed was a barrage of kicks and punches that the two either took or blocked, before finally Krillin ducked under a punch aimed at his face, grabbed Chiatzu by his midsection, jumped in the air, and finally threw him out of the ring. He tried to stop himself in the air but ended up falling outside of the ring.

"I won!" Krillin cheered.

"Ah man..." Chiatzu muttered to himself while dusting off his clothes.

"Don't worry about it, I see you've improved a lot," Tien praised with a smile, lifting his friend's mood.

"Now is my turn!" Goku exclaimed excitedly as he and Mara moved into the ring.

"This won't be like any of our spars before," Mara said with her eyes narrowed, "I won't hold back this time."

Goku grinned, accepting the challenge, "Fine. Then that means we have to drop the weight on our clothes."

The Saiyan Princess smirked as the two of them concentrated and the weight pushing down on them disappeared.

Without a word of warning, the two of them flickered out of view before clashing in the middle of the ring, causing a shock wave to push all of those unprepared back and send the table flying. Everyone except for Gine gaped as the two blurs continued to clash until they were both visible on the ring and began to exchange a flurry of punches and kicks that appeared to be blurs.

"No way... How did Goku get this strong?" Tien wondered out loud.

"This is insane." Yamcha said with wide eyes.

The two Saiyans clashed once again, with Goku blocking a kick to his side, but Mara quickly spun in place and delivered a punch to his face that caused him to involuntarily take a couple of steps back. She wasted no time and followed up with a kick to his midsection that sent him flying towards the line that marked the end of the ring.

Goku quickly flipped in the air and stopped himself from falling out, before shooting towards Mara at top speed, taking her by surprise, and landing a punch on her stomach. She doubled over in pain before the boy's tail wrapped around her legs and hurled her across the garden.

"They're both crazy," Oolong said with a look of fear on his face when seeing the girl shoot towards Goku.

Gine watched the spar with a smile on her face.

A sort of rivalry had formed between them and that was making them make outstanding progress. Only a few months ago, neither of them would be able to fight at such a level. It was hard to think that Bardock was stronger than the two of them, mostly because she had never seen him fight all out. One thing was for certain though, Goku was currently stronger than Bardock was when fighting another Saiyan back on Planet Vegeta.

Even so, it still wasn't clear if he could become strong enough to beat Bardock. At times like this she wondered what it was that he was thinking, they may have spent years together and told each other almost everything, but when he got like this there was no way for her to understand what he was thinking.

"Okay, we're done here!"

Bulma's voice snapped everyone out of their thoughts, even Goku and Mara stopped mid-air to turn towards the owner of the voice.

"I told you not to destroy anything and now look!"

Pointing at the destruction the two Saiyans had caused; windows shattered by the shocks of their attacks, the water from the pond covering one of the walls, and her dress had gotten ruined from it.

"Oh no!" Goku yelled in horror, "The food!"

That was all it took for Bulma to snap and give an earful to all those present. Even Mara wasn't spared as she was made to sit while she lectured everyone.

* * *

"Bye Bulma!"

"Visit any time! Just don't break anything!" Bulma called out as the boy and his two guests flew out of her sight.

Now alone with her son and Mara, Gine smiled, "You have some good friends."

"Yeah. Even though Bulma can be pretty loud," he responded with a laugh.

Mara grimaced, "Don't remind me."

To think that some Earthling had yelled at her. Because of her orders not to hurt anyone, she could do nothing but take the scolding quietly.

"Are you going back with Kami?" Gine asked, seeing as the sun was beginning to set.

"Well, I don't have to be there until the day after tomorrow," he answered, "Hmm... Maybe I could go get some food..."

"No," Mara interrupted, "We are going to finish our match that was interrupted by the loud Earthling."

Goku grinned at that, "You're on!"

* * *

Several blinking lights illuminated a dark room where an old man typed furiously behind a large computer screen.

"Good. Good."

A couple of large tubes filled with water splashed as the man laughed to himself.

"My first prototype androids are ready."

* * *

Goku panted, sprawled out on the ground next to Mara who was doing the same.

His mom had left a couple of hours ago and it was now pretty dark. It looked like their spar had lasted much longer than before. Not to mention that it had been a lot more destructive as the grassy meadow they had found was now full of craters.

"Ah... I can't move my legs..." Goku smiled weakly.

"Neither can I," Mara answered, "At least this means we'll get stronger."

The boy nodded weakly in agreement, not that she could see it, as his eyes began to close on their own. Soon enough he began to snore lightly.

Mara looked to her side and, to no surprise, noticed that Goku was fast asleep.

"Might as well," she muttered to herself before closing her eyes to do the same.

Just like that the two Saiyans were sleeping together beneath the starlit sky.

* * *

**Power Levels:**

**Goku **\- 3,000

_Weight Off _\- 23,000

**Mara **\- 3,000

_Weight Off _\- 23,000

**Krillin **\- 5,000

**Tien **\- 4,000

**Yamcha **\- 4,500

**Chiatzu **\- 6,000

**Gine **\- 1,000


	11. Prototype Androids

**Hey guys, here's the new chapter.**

**I figure that I should tell you guys about Piccolo since I've been asked. Next chapter is actually going to explain all that happened with him and, yes, he will soon meet Goku. **

**So that's that. Thanks a lot to those of you that reviewed, thanks for the support. Remember that if you have any more question then let me know. **

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 11**

**Prototype Androids**

A man smirked from his spot on a chair in front of several large computer screens that displayed several different shots of a nearby city. Hacking into the city's security cameras had been a cakewalk, and now he was able to have a perfect view of his experiment.

Today he would be seeing how his prototypes performed in a battle situation. In order to do that he classified any breathing being as a target and they were to carry out their mission in any way they could.

"They may be prototypes but I wonder if they'll be able to kill _that _pest..." the man muttered to himself with a look of hatred on his face.

* * *

Goku yawned loudly as he flew through the blue skies behind Mara. She had woken him up earlier and told him that she was hungry to which he told her that there were several places that gave out food in exchange for money.

In the end, after using one of the capsules Bulma had given him as a gift before, Goku took a stack of cash and then set off with Mara in search for the nearest city.

"I see it," Mara said a bit impatiently.

Goku moved faster so that he was flying next to her, and spotted a city in the distance, "We'll still have to find a place that sells food."

Mara nodded silently as she pushed herself to go a bit faster. She was feeling hungry and, even though she could just ask Goku to give her a Senzu Bean, they still threw her off. Simply by eating one of those beans she would feel full, not to say that she didn't appreciate the miraculous properties it had, but between eating one of those and having a nice meal, she would always choose the latter.

At her side, the boy chuckled quietly when seeing how impatient she was.

* * *

A tall gray skinned muscular man with short black hair walked through the crowds of people of a crowded city. Earning looks both from the color of his skin and the out of place clothes – a heavy dark green jacket, light brown pants, and large black boots – the man appeared not to notice the attention.

He suddenly stopped in the middle of the street and looked ahead with a blank expression.

"Attack mode activated."

No one expected the strange man to spread out his arms and fire two massive beams of energy that blew away anything in their path.

* * *

Goku and Mara were knocked back from a powerful shock wave that suddenly rocked the area.

"W-What was that!?" A man let out in fear.

A kid began to cry as his mother took him in her arms to whisper soothing words of encouragement as the two Saiyans stood up and looked at each other.

No words were needed as the two ran out the door.

"You forgot to pay!" A man with a thick black mustache yelled as he watched the two kids leave.

Outside, the two Saiyans came upon a ruined street where a perfectly straight line had tore through the concrete. Both looked to where the line started and noticed a man with his arms extended.

Goku glared at the man and sprung into action when seeing that he was beginning to gather energy on his hands again. The boy flew rapidly through the street before finally getting close enough to punch the man on the jaw. However, he did not expect the man to simply stand there as his head was lightly pushed back.

"He's strong," Goku said as he put some distance between himself and the man who continued to stand there with a blank look on his face.

Another explosion went off behind the boy who looked back in horror to see black smoke coming from further into the city.

"You take care of this guy, I'll find out what happened over there," Mara said as she flew away with an excited grin on her face. Nothing beat a good fight after a good meal.

Goku smiled at her retreating figure before turning back to the strange man with a glare, "Why are you attacking the city?"

* * *

"It's him!" The man behind the computer screens laughed as two screens displayed the small boy with black hair.

"The brat that destroyed the Red Ribbon Army," he smirked, "I guess now is a good time to see if these prototypes will be able to kill him."

He pressed a button on his keyboard and spoke into a microphone that would make the prototypes hear his voice, "Android #7. Kill the brat in front of you at all costs!"

* * *

"Understood," the android said before rushing towards the boy.

Goku narrowed his eyes as he leaned his head away from a punch and then spun around while throwing a kick that caught the man on the side and sent him flying away until he finally crashed against a building, leaving a large hole.

It didn't take long for the man to rocket out of the building at a fast speed and begin to throw a barrage of punches and kicks that he was just barely able to dodge until he was forced to jump away to get some breathing room.

This guy was weird. No matter what he did, he couldn't feel his ki so there was no way for him to know how strong he was. Still, it didn't look like he needed to drop the weight on his clothes just yet, for now he wanted to learn as much as he could about the way the strange man fought.

"Come on guy," Goku said as he put on his fighting stance.

* * *

Mara landed before a short man with a colorful yellow jacket on and neon orange pants who wore a white helmet with a black glass covering his face that flashed with various lights. One of his hands was extended towards were a ki blast had leveled a building. There was no doubt that this guy was the one behind the earlier explosion.

"You are strong," the small man said in a monotone voice as he turned to face the Saiyan.

_'What's going on? I can't feel his energy...' _Mara thought in surprise, _'It's not me, I can still feel a lot of people around me. There must be something strange about this person, if he even is a person at all.'_

The small man went quiet as lights flashed rapidly on his helmet, before he nodded and finally spoke again, "Very well. She will be killed as well."

In an instant, the strange man pointed his hands as her and created a couple of large ki blasts that shot at her at a fast speed. Mara easily knocked the two blasts aside, making them soar through the air before exploding well above the city, and then charged in at the man who pointed his hands again to shoot more attacks.

If this was all he could do then the fight would be pretty easy, Mara decided as she dodged the attacks without having to stop moving, until she finally got close enough to punch at the enemy. The small man smirked as the space around him was suddenly filled with strange green sparks that then formed a green barrier of energy around him that caused the Saiyan to be violently knocked back.

Not done, the man followed by pointing one hand at the Saiyan and firing a fast beam of energy that pushed her through a building before it finally exploded.

Mara gritted her teeth as she emerged from a bit of rubble in the middle of the street. The building she had been shot through was still standing and it didn't look like any Earthlings had been hurt by the attack. Still, the many idiots looking at her in shock would get in the way if the fight was taken to where she was.

"Why am I trying not to get them killed again?" She wondered out loud before letting out a sigh and flying up the air and around the large building. As she expected, the small man turned his attention away from the city and flew after her.

_'This should be good enough, I can't exactly leave the city since that idiot might need help,' _she concluded as the small man floated in front of her, the city well under them.

"Alright, I'll finish this quickly," she declared before dropping the weight on her clothes and rocketing towards the strange man that could do nothing as he elbow dug deep into his chest. While she never expected the man to be made out of wires and metal, she was thankful to at least not have to wash blood out of her armor once the fight was over.

With that in mind, she dug her hand into the man's chest and created a large blast of ki that broke his body in two.

"It seems it was stupid of me to think that Earth would have strong machines," Mara said in a bit of disappointment before letting out a sigh, "I guess I'll go see the rest of Goku's fight."

* * *

"Android #9 failed," said the man sitting behind the many computer screens.

In a way this was expected but he couldn't help but feel a bit of disappointment that it had been taken down so easily by those strange visitors from another planet. Even so, his experiment wasn't done just yet. There was still one more prototype that had yet to be released.

With that said.

The old man pressed a button on his computer and a door slid open on a large cylinder.

A slim boy with blue skin stepped into the dark room and looked around in a daze.

"Android #10. Goku is in a nearby city. Find him and kill him."

"Heh..." the small android chuckled before shooting out of the lab, without caring about the fact that he had made a large hole on the ceiling and that his creator shouted angrily as he left.

* * *

Goku stepped backward as the strange man continued with his barrage of punches and kicks without stop. Still, it was easy for the boy to block each attack without much trouble and dodge them all together most of the time. This, however, was not pleasant to Mara who was watching the exchange while sitting on the edge of a building with a bored look on her face.

Like her, Goku had moved the fight to the sky but had yet to destroy the machine.

"Hurry up already," she called out to him.

The boy chuckled before ducking under a punch and placing a hand to the machine's chest before firing a ki blast that created a gaping hole on the machine that then fell on the street without moving.

"I just wanted to see how the guy fought," Goku explained.

Just as she was about to reply, she noticed a figure in the distance. From the looks of it, someone was flying towards them at a fast speed and, even though she tried to sense his ki it was useless.

"Another one's coming," she said.

Goku looked to where she was looking and frowned, "It looks like it's after us. Let's move higher up so the city's safe."

Mara nodded as the two shot upwards with the faraway figure doing the same. Neither of them stopped until the city was well under them.

The two Saiyans stood defensively as the figure finally came to a stop and they could see what he looked like. Blue skin, brown eyes, black pants, and a large white shirt that appeared many sizes too big.

"Are you with the other strange guys we were fighting?" Goku asked but got no reply as the strange boy looked at him straight in the eyes and smirked wildly. "Huh?"

In an instant the enemy was upon Goku with his right fist cocked back, luckily, Mara managed to notice his intentions and was quick enough to counter by delivering a kick to his side. The strange boy was knocked away before regaining his composure and shooting at them again, this time with his two hands pointed forward.

Firing two powerful large beams of energy at Mara, she was forced to move away as he shot towards Goku and let loose a flurry of punches and kicks. Goku gritted his teeth as he blocked, dodged, and retaliated in their exchange but found that he was being overwhelmed by the attacks until he was finally knocked aside by a powerful fist colliding with his right cheek.

Before the strange boy could follow his attack, he leaned away from a kick coming from Mara, who's eyes widened in surprise. The boy smirked as he kneed the girl in the stomach, grabbed her by the neck, and flung her aside before he moved towards Goku once again.

They began to exchange blows once again, but this time Goku brought out more of his power until he was dominating their exchange and delivered a punch to his stomach. Next he punched him away and flew after him to deliver a kick to his face, and finally axe kicked him on the head, sending him shooting towards the ground.

The android held a look of fury as he descended from the sky until he finally managed to stop himself in the air. Seething in rage, the android looked around before extending both hands and calling forth the broken pieces of Android #7 and Android #9.

* * *

"Tch. It's absorbing the others without me telling it to," the man watching the fight in his computer screens growled to himself. "This is exactly why I still don't trust it."

It was a common error or maybe a miscalculation that he had with his androids. While making powerful robots that obeyed his every command was easy, the androids never seemed to behave in the manner that he wanted them to.

* * *

Goku's eyes widened as a field of sparks suddenly engulfed the area and a figure shot past him and Mara at a crazy speed.

The two Saiyans frowned when they saw the figure.

A hulking man with dull blue skin and long black hair smirked as his black eyes filled with malice. There was no mistaking that this one was strong even though they still couldn't feel anything from him.

White aura flared around Goku and Mara as they powered up to their full strength and attacked the man together.

"Haha!" The hulking man laughed as his arms extended and grabbed the two Saiyans.

"Gah!" The two cried out as electricity coursed through their bodies before the hulking man smashed them together and flung them away.

Goku gritted his teeth. He tried to stop himself in the air but the force in which he was moving made it impossible to do. A sudden sharp pain struck his back and it wasn't until he was sent hurling away again that he noticed that the man had moved behind him.

"Kame..." He began in a weak voice while keeping an eye on the enemy. "Hame!"

As the bluish white orb of ki formed on his hands, he was caught off-guard when the man disappeared from view and an elbow connected with his stomach. His attack died on his hands, as his eyes widened and he spat blood.

The hulking man smirked as he grabbed Goku by his neck and held him up.

"HA!"

A violet beam of ki tore through the air before exploding against the large back of the man who stumbled forward with a frown. He dropped Goku and turned to see Mara with both of her hands extended towards him. A growl came from the man but before he could attack, the Saiyan unleashed a barrage of ki blasts on him, each hitting their mark and keeping the enemy from moving.

"N-Nimbus..." Goku muttered weakly as he fell from the sky and was caught by his faithful cloud. He managed to sit up and reach for the cloth pouch he had on his belt. "There's only one Senzu Bean here..."

He grimaced but figured that he could still fight even on his condition. With the enemy they were fighting, the Senzu Bean could only be used in case of an emergency and, even though he was in pain, he had to fight through it.

"Thanks, but you should leave in case things get bad," he patted his cloud before jumping off and flying up the air where Mara was still firing ki blasts at the enemy. Seeing this as his chance, he quickly began to charge up his signature attack.

"Kamehameha!"

Much large and powerful than he was used to, the blue beam of ki met and engulfed its target before exploding with such force that the clouds around them were violently pushed away, leaving a perfect circle in the sky.

"Do you think that did it?" Mara asked as she approached the boy. "It's hard to know when these things are dead because we can't feel their energy."

"I hope so. Otherwise things are going to get bad," he answered through pants.

"How many Senzu Beans did you bring?"

"Only one. I never thought that we would have to fight someone so strong."

Mara frowned and focused her eyes on the smoke from the attack until, much to her horror, she made out the outline of the hulking man.

"Damn..."

Android #10 laughed as the smoke cleared to reveal that nothing – except for a few burn marks on his clothes – had happened. With a large smirk, the android pointed his hand at them, revealing a strange gray circle that opened before releasing a blast twice the size of Goku's kamehameha.

Goku and Mara split in different directions to dodge the attack and, seeing as they were separated, the android picked his target and shot towards Mara to punch her on the face before grabbing her by the arm and throwing her at Goku, who caught her before she could get too far.

"My arm," she hissed in pain and parted from Goku to see how bad it was. As she expected, her arm hung limply and any sort of movement was enough to make her gasp in pain. "It's broken..."

"Take the Senzu Bean. You need it way more than me right now."

"Let's wait, I can handle this much," she assured. "We still don't know how strong that thing is, if I take the Senzu Bean now then I'll probably just end up in this condition again."

Goku frowned, "Then what do we do. I can feel my power going down by the second."

"Like I said, we'll wait. The worse shape we are in, the more powerful we'll become once we get healed."

"Fine, but here," he said, handing her the cloth pouch, "You're the one with the broken arm, if we fight then you might be the one that's going to need it."

She chuckled at that but took the pouch regardless, "Then let's go."

* * *

Bardock narrowed his eyes as he scanned his youngest son's power level like he usually did every once in a while. Something was strange today. Unlike every other time, his son's power level was fluctuating between normal, strong, to weak. This usually meant that a battle was taking place but there was something off about the whole thing.

Mara was with him apparently and her power level had risen before shooting down rapidly. This mean that the two were not sparring but that something else entirely was going on.

Were the two of them fighting seriously?

Or was there an opponent that they were facing together?

Bardock crossed his arms and closed his eyes in deep thought before clicking his tongue and shooting towards the direction of the power levels.

It wasn't like him to think things through so thoroughly, if he was curious about it then he would just go see what was going on.

* * *

Goku gritted his teeth when his punch was blocked by the massive arm of the android who moved very rapidly for someone his size. Still, the boy did not give up, and let loose a flurry of punches and kicks in an attempt to hurt the enemy but none of his attempts worked. Instead, the android only smirked and delivered a harsh blow to his chest that knocked him aside like a fly.

Mara was forced to follow after the two as the android appeared to want to fight Goku instead of her. With her dwindling strength, as well as the speed in which the two were moving, it was near impossible for her to catch up to them. Her desire to just pop the Senzu Bean in her mouth and go fight was too much for her to bear. Was there really nothing she could do in her current state?

The android laughed maniacally as he fired a beam of ki from his fingertip and had it pierce Goku's right shoulder, making him cry out in agony before he was grabbed the back of the head and violently struck by the android's knee multiple times before he was finally let go and then blasted to the ground by a large ki blast.

_'He's nothing more than an annoying pest,' _Mara thought as she stood motionless in the air, her eyes wide in disbelief.

_'An idiot that smiles to someone like me. An idiot that calls me his friend. Right. He's just an idiot.'_

White aura flared around her.

_'But...'_

When she saw him being struck by the large ki blast, something within her broke loose.

Her eyes burned with hatred and her fist tightened as the white aura around her exploded around her furiously.

"You bastard!" Mara roared in rage as she shot towards the android in a blinding speed and dug her elbow into his chest, causing the startled android to let out a yelp of surprise before being knocked away.

With that done, she flew after Goku who was still falling at a very fast speed. The ground was coming closer and closer but she would reach him, at least that's what she thought before the android flew towards her and she was forced to block a kick.

The Saiyan managed to duck under a punch and lash out with a kick that somehow sent the thing away enough for her to look down helplessly as Goku continued to pick up speed. Even if he was a Saiyan, a fall in that condition could easily kill him.

"Goku!"

Time seemed to slow down. She fully expected him to fall to his death but something entirely different happened. A dark blur caught Goku and then moved in front of her with his back to her.

"Hey."

She recognized the green Saiyan armored immediately.

"What's going on here?" Bardock asked with a glare directed at the hulking android floating in the air. "Here, take him for a bit."

Goku's body was pushed on Mara who held him with a startled expression, "What are you doing here?"

"I noticed that the two of you were fighting so I came to see what was happening," he explained, "Unlike the other times that you two were fighting, this time it looked like the two of you were getting your asses handed to you."

"I see..."

Bardock looked at her briefly before smirking, "I'll kill this guy. Just make sure my son isn't dead."

Mara nodded and moved down so that she could land somewhere. She couldn't very well hold Goku _and _feed him a Senzu Bean with a broken arm.

"Now that they're okay," Bardock began before cracking his knuckles and looking at the android, "Let's see what you're made of."

* * *

Goku's eyes snapped open as he sat off to look around in panic.

What happened? He and Mara were fighting that strange guy just now!

"Calm down."

Hearing Mara's voice, he turned to see her standing next to him, still with her arm broken.

"What happened?"

"You're father got here."

"Hm?" He let out before looking up and almost yelling in surprise.

The power he felt just now, was that really his father?

As soon as he felt the power it was gone and he could see Bardock coming down from the sky with a big smirk on his face. His armored seemed a bit damaged but other than that he looked perfectly okay.

"Did you kill him?" Mara asked.

"Yeah," Bardock answered, "He was very strong. No wonder the two of you couldn't beat him. To think there were such strong beings on this planet."

Goku grinned in excitement despite what his father being so strong meant. He still had no intention of losing their fight but he was looking forward to it. Even after months of training he still didn't come close to how strong his father was, fighting him was sure to be fun.

Bardock seemed to notice the excitement and smirked in response, "You're a lot stronger Kakarot, but you won't beat me at this rate."

"Just wait, I'll be strong enough in a few months."

Three months, if Bardock was counting right, "I'll be waiting."

With that said the older Saiyan left the two alone on top of a tall building.

Goku, upon glancing at Mara, lost his smile, "Let's go get you a Senzu Bean. Think you can fly?"

"Not really," she answered honestly. Beads of sweat rolled down her face, as she panted heavily, in short it did not look like she was in good shape.

"Okay then," he said before moving up to her and carrying her bridal style.

"What the hell are you doing!?" She shouted, her face red.

"Hm? This way your arm won't move around when we fly," he answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Mara tried to find something else to say but decided that she didn't have the energy to do so.

"Okay."

Goku smiled as he took to the skies and Mara slowly closed her eyes to get some rest.

* * *

"So they were all destroyed..."

The man behind the many computers groaned as he began to type a few notes. It looked like Android #10 had the sufficient power to kill the brat, but that armored bastard had saved him.

Even so, it wasn't like he had been expecting his android prototypes to kill Goku, they had merely been tests. So he wasn't worried, his perfect android would be built in time, for now he would continue to work on his masterpiece.

With a smirk, he faced the shadowed pods marked with the numbers seventeen and eighteen.

* * *

_Months Later ~_

Goku threw dozens of jabs in the blink of an eye before jumping high in the air and going through a difficult kata from the style Kami had taught him, and then moving to one that his mother had taught him.

To Kami and Mr. Popo who watched him, he appeared to be a blur in the air as he moved in speeds that they couldn't quite follow.

Goku finished and landed on the tiled floors of the temple with a bright smile on his face. Content with his progress, he wiped away the sweat on his forehead.

Today was the day.

After months of training it was finally time for the fight he would have with his father. A fight for the protection of Earth.

"Do you have everything ready?" Kami asked.

"Yeah," Goku replied.

Wearing his usual red uniform, he even had a pouch of Senzu Beans on his belt just in case things got too dangerous. Of course, he wasn't thinking of using them to get stronger, he fully planned on giving some to his father if he ended up using them on himself.

"Then good luck Goku. Please do your best to protect the Earth."

"You can do it Goku," Mr. Popo added with a smile.

Goku smiled and waved at the two before jumping off the lookout. The wind felt cool against his body as he moved towards his father's ki.

* * *

**Power Levels:**

**Goku –** 3,000

_Weight Off – _16,000

_Full Power –_ 25,000

_Zenkai –_ 28,000

**Mara – **3,000

_Weight Off –_ 16,000

_Full Power –_ 26,000

**Bardock –** 31,000

**Android #7 –** 15,000

**Android #9 –** 15,000

**Android #10 –** 17,000

_Parts Absorbed –_ 30,000

* * *

_Months Later ~_

**Goku –** 20,000


	12. The Fated Day

**Sorry about the long wait, it's just that this chapter was a pain to write. So yeah, happy Halloween and stuff, hope you had fun. Leave a review if you feel up to it, also thanks to everyone that's reading, it means a lot.**

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 12**

**The Fated Day**

Human's were terribly fragile.

That's what Piccolo came to realize as he stood over a pair of graves on the spacious area behind what had been their home. Most of the people living on the small village had mourned the loss of the elderly couple that had passed just days apart, in some ways it was a blessing that they didn't have to be without the other for too long.

Cape fluttering with the wind, Piccolo looked down on the graves with an unreadable expression.

He had no grasp of what he was really feeling.

The part of him that came from his old self, with the memories of killing people without batting an eye, could care less about the two people that had died.

However, something had changed. Maybe it was because he didn't retain _every _memory, but he found that he did not share some of the traits his former self did. It's probably the reason why he chose not to kill the old man that had took him home and taken care of him when he was at his most vulnerable. Also the reason why he grew _fond _of them, something that his other self would never have experienced.

Something changed.

He realized that when he shed tears after _Pop –_ what the old man insisted he call him – passed away; and again when the gentle woman that looked after him, _Ma_, passed as well.

That's why, as he looked at their graves knowing that he would not return for some time, he made a vow to follow their teachings as best he could.

_'You're strong Piccolo...'_

Pop had said once.

_'But never abuse it. It is the job of the strong to protect the weak. My father told me this, that's why I worked hard all my life to raise my children until they were strong enough to leave this village. Even now that I'm old and gray, I have to work so that me and Ma are okay. Remember Piccolo, you have great gifts so use them for good.'_

With one last look at the graves and a slight bow of his head, his cape fluttered once again as he shot off the ground and took for the skies.

There was still something weighing heavily on his mind so he needed to get stronger both physically and mentally.

* * *

"Do you guys think we'll actually have to fight?" Yamcha asked Tien and Krillin, who turned to look at him.

The three were flying through the air, following the imposing ki signatures of the Saiyans. They had met up a few weeks ago, knowing that the time for the battle for Earth's fate was almost there. So when they felt Goku's ki moving at a rapid speed to where the Saiyans were, they knew that it was time to go back him up.

"If it all goes right, then no," Tien answered calmly before frowning, "Not that I expect it to. Goku might be stronger but there's no guarantee that none of the other Saiyans are going to take advantage if the two wear each other out."

"I guess you're right, but in the end it all depends on whether Goku is strong enough to beat his father or not," Krillin added, "He should be crazy strong now but he's fighting a guy that tells the other strong Saiyans what to do."

Yamcha sighed, knowing that they had a big job ahead of them, before he quickly perked up and let out a chuckle, "Well! I was only asking because I wanted to kick some ass today!"

His mood was infectious as the other two exchanged looks before laughing.

At that moment Krillin noticed that one of them was missing.

"Huh? Where's Chiatzu?"

"I told him to stay behind," Tien said, "In the event that the worst happens today he could search for the dragon balls."

A new wave of the gloomy mood filled the area, but this time they each broke out of it by themselves.

It was no use to think about such bad things, since they would make sure that they did not happen.

* * *

Gine couldn't help but frown as she watched Bardock stretching in an open field not too far from where they were staying. She had thought that there would be a way to prevent this fight from happening but – while Goku's mannerisms resembled hers the most – there was no denying that he was identical to his father when it came to fighting.

The two were way too stubborn.

"He's actually coming," Raditz muttered to himself when his scouter picked up his brother's power level. "Hm?" Along with Kakarot's, he could feel three other power levels headed their way. "Kakarot's brought company."

"It's fine," Bardock answered as he stretched his back until it cracked. "You guys came along with me, so it's no problem if Kakarot brought allies."

* * *

Goku floated in the air with a grin.

He had felt his friends following him and decided to wait for them. Soon enough he could make them out on the distance and they began to wave once they were close enough.

"Goku!" Krillin laughed as he and the others stopped in front of him.

"Hey guys," Goku waved.

"Looks like the time's come," Tien said in a serious tone.

"Yeah, but I'm not about to lose," the boy assured with a confident grin. "I trained like crazy for months!"

Yamcha smirked, "So did we. No stinking aliens are going to destroy Earth!"

"Hey! Remember that they're Goku's family," Krillin said, making Yamcha laughed nervously.

"That's now what I meant."

Goku watched the scene with his head cocked to the side, having not heard what they were saying. Tien moved closer to him with his expression a bit somber.

"Goku. Do you think that we'll have to fight as well?"

"My father is someone who keeps his word but..." he trailed off, thinking back on the rest of the Saiyans.

His mom wouldn't try anything, he was one hundred percent sure of that. With Mara, well, he really didn't think that she would be the type to go against the deal. As for his older brother and that bald guy, he wasn't so sure if they would just stand and watch the fight.

"There's only two that might try something," Goku said before he grinned, "But even if they do, I know you guys can take them!"

Tien chuckled, the boy's enthusiasm was infectious, "Of course we can." He turned to the other two that were in some sort of discussion, "Let's get going everyone."

Everyone nodded and flew to where all of the Saiyans had gathered.

* * *

There was an unmistakable tension as soon as Goku, Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin arrived, floating in the sky as the Saiyans looked at them with mixed expressions.

Bardock was smirking, looking forward to their fight, while Gine looked worried. Raditz on the other hand, had his jaw clenched in annoyance, while Nappa growled in anger when seeing the Earthlings.

Mara frowned. Six months ago she never expected that she would have mixed feelings about the fate of this planet. While she had tried to do away with the teachings of her family, they were still very present. That's why a part of her didn't care if the planet was purged, while the other part didn't want to see a lot of Goku's friends be slaughtered.

"The six months are up," Bardock said with a smirk. He brought a hand to his scouter and checked his son's power level. "Twenty thousand. Not bad, but I know that it isn't your full power."

Goku and the others landed on the ground, with the boy stepping forward to face his father.

"Remember what you promised. If I beat you, nothing happens to anyone on Earth."

"That's only if you defeat me," Bardock said as he rolled his right shoulder and put on a fighting stance. "I hate waiting, so let's get started."

Goku grinned and surprised Bardock by mirroring his stance.

Had Gine been teaching him their way of fighting? He smirked.

"Interesting."

Without any other words the two flickered out of view and clashed, Goku with his right fist, and Bardock with his left knee. The two looked at one another before they flickered out of view again and classed in the air.

"T-This is..." Raditz muttered with his eyes wide.

Nappa couldn't believe what he was seeing. His scouter fluctuated between normal and then high power levels between the two fighters. This couldn't be a warm up. He grudgingly knew that Bardock was stronger than him but there was no way that the kid wasn't fighting at his all from the get go. His planet was at stake.

Mara watched the fight with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Father and son were quite similar, wanting to get a feel of the other's fighting style before things got more heated. As things were, it looked like it would be a long fight.

After another clash the two landed opposite of each other with a bit of distance between them.

"Your form isn't so bad," Bardock noted, "Seems your mother taught you well." He clenched his fists and his brow furrowed, "But it's time to stop the warm up."

White aura exploded around the Saiyan, causing those unprepared to take an involuntary step back as a harsh wind picked up and pushed back the trees in the area.

Goku released the weight on his clothes before becoming surrounded by white aura as well as he focused on bringing out his power.

All those expect for Gine and Mara were left speechless as they witnessed the two getting stronger and stronger until they both stopped and charged at each other. Goku cocked his right arm back but Bardock used his reach to his advantage and delivered a kick to his son's torso.

Goku grunted in pain but managed to keep his ground, wrap his tail around the extended leg, and use it for leverage to pull himself forward and deliver a punch to his father's armor.

_Crack!_

_'Strong,' _Bardock thought in pride as a chunk of his armor broke from the blow. He actually felt that one. With a ghost of a smirk, he pulled on his son's arm and headbutted him on the forehead.

Tears gathered at the corners of Goku's eyes as he jumped away while nursing his head but was forced to quickly block an incoming axe kick. However, Bardock was not done as he spun in the air and unleashed an onslaught of punches and kicks. The boy was able to dodge and block most of them until he lashed out with an open-palm strike that caught the older Saiyan on the nose and followed up by twisting in the air and delivering a harsh kick to his face.

"Impossible!" Raditz let out in shock as he watched his father sail through the air and crash against a nearby rocky hill.

Goku landed on the ground and dropped into his fighting stance with his eyes narrowed in concentration. A couple of hits like that wouldn't be enough.

Suddenly, from the large cloud of debris that had formed, dozens of blue energy attacks were launched at him at a fast speed. Goku gritted his teeth and jumped high in the air to realize that the ki attacks had changed direction as well, they were following his every move!

He picked up speed, all the while looking at the attacks out of the corner of his eyes, before he put enough distance and twisted so that he could face the attacks.

"Kamehameha!"

The large blue beam of ki engulfed the other attacks without problem but the boy was blindsided as a hand gripped the side of his face and dragged him away.

"Gah!"

Bardock smirked as he dove down with his son held tightly on his grasp. He had every intention of slamming him on the ground and was taken by surprise when he felt two hands being placed on his stomach and then the burning sensation of a ki blast. His eyes widened as he was violently pushed away by a yellow beam of energy that didn't do much damage but managed to put distance between his son and him again.

* * *

Up at the lookout, Kami watched the fight with a heavy frown.

While the fight appeared even, he knew that neither Bardock nor Goku were using their full strength. As of now the only thing giving Goku a slight advantage is that he knew how his father fought thanks to training with Gine. However, he knew that this advantage would soon disappear as Bardock appeared to be very experienced.

He could only hope that Goku's training was sufficient.

* * *

Bardock rushed in with a battle cry and punched at Goku, only for his fist to go through as the outline of the boy disappeared. Years of honed battle instincts kicked in as Bardock quickly turned to his side and blocked an incoming kick with his arms. The boy was not done however as he unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks at a speed that even he had trouble keeping up with.

Goku narrowed his eyes when he realized that his punches and kicks were being blocked and evaded, so he decided to switch fighting styles. It appeared to work as Bardock's eyes widened and received a punch to his stomach, making him grunt in pain and lash out with a kick that caught the boy on the face and knocked him away.

He sailed through the air before spinning with the momentum and finally landing safely on the ground just as a sudden spike in ki made him aware that his father was about to attack again.

A blue aura glowed brightly on Bardock's right fist before he brought it back and swung it, causing a powerful energy blast to shoot at the boy at a fast speed.

Goku held his ground and brought his hands to his side.

"Kame..."

Bardock frowned when he noticed that his son was going to retaliate with an attack of his own, so he pointed a hand at the blast. "Ha!"

"Hame..."

The blue blast of energy moved even faster than before, so much that it was seconds away from hitting its target.

"HA!"

Just as the attack was about to hit, Goku unleashed his attack and pushed Bardock's away. The older Saiyan gritted his teeth at that and pushed his attack with his right hand while preparing another on his left.

"Take this!"

A second blue blast struck the Kamehameha and caused it to be pushed back.

Goku grunted as he was being pushed back by the force of the attacks. Even the ground under his feet was breaking from the incredible force that kept on pushing his Kamehameha even further down.

"H-HAAAAAAAA!"

White aura exploded around the boy and the Kamehameha grew several times larger as he unleashed his full power into the beam of power that easily engulfed the other two and shot towards Bardock who quickly moved away from the attack but not without being struck by it on his left arm.

"Dammit!" Bardock cried out as he held his bleeding arm while the Kamehameha disappeared in the distance.

He never expected for his son to be stronger than he let on, he thought for sure that what his scouter picked up, thirty-thousand, was the extend of his son's power. It must be a thing of this planet, he knew that they could hide their power levels, he learned to as well, but he didn't know it could be done so well. Whereas he could only suppress his power to a certain point and then unleash all of it, it appeared that his son could choose how much of his power he let out at certain points.

Interesting.

He tried to roll his arm but found that he couldn't.

Oh well, a broken arm never stopped him before.

Checking his scouter, he was met with the surprise that his son's power level was at thirty-five-thousand.

Nappa trembled in rage as he checked his scouter again and again, but no matter how many times he checked it always gave the same reading. "How?!" His fists tightened, "How is that brat so powerful?!"

"Y-You're getting the same reading?" Raditz asked him with his eyes wide in disbelief.

"The real fight is about to begin," Mara muttered to herself.

Bardock narrowed his eyes and let out a scream as he powered up to his full power again, though this time he was going to fight seriously. No more trying to see how Kakarot fought. Without the use of his two arms he was positive that it would still be an even fight.

Goku slipped into his fighting stance but let out a gasp when Bardock appeared in front of him and delivered a punch to his gut. He doubled over in pain, eyes wide as he spat blood, before he was kicked on his side and sent hurling away. He tried to stop his trajectory but he was struck on the back before he got the chance and then received an axe kick that sent him crashing on the ground.

"HA!" He cried out as he shot out of the rubble and moved straight for Bardock at a fast speed.

The older Saiyan smirked as the two began to trade blows. They were both past blocking at this point and tried to damage the other as much as possible.

Both finally put some distance between them, Bardock still smirking but with blood on the side of his mouth, while Goku had a bloody nose and a trail of blood on the corners of his mouth.

"Not bad Kakarot. You have really surprised me. I expected you to catch up to me to a certain extent, but I never expected you to come so close," Bardock praised. "I just wish we could keep on fighting like this..." He finished with a sigh. "The ten minutes are up."

He _had _given his word that if Kakarot lasted at least ten minutes against him at full power then he would admit defeat.

"We won't purge the planet."

Goku's intent stare broke the moment he heard that, "Huh?"

"I'm telling you I won't hurt the Earthlings."

The message was received with mixed emotions to those present.

Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin cheered, even Gine and Mara appeared relieved. But Raditz and Nappa were another story. Raditz appeared to be disappointed, while Nappa was livid.

"Are you out of your mind?!" He screamed, "This is our mission! To purge this puny planet in place of your good for nothing brat!"

"Oh?" Bardock smirked, "That's a lot coming from someone weaker than said _brat_."

Nappa glared, "Fine! If you won't do it then I will!" He turned to Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin with a furious glare, "I'll start with these trash!"

With that the bald Saiyan was engulfed by white aura and shot towards the three humans. Tien was the first to react as he quickly moved towards the incoming enemy and blocked an incoming punch with his arm.

"Stand down Nappa!" Mara yelled but was silenced when she received a glare from him.

"Damn that bald bastard," Bardock cursed. He was prepared to go there to take care of things himself but stopped when he saw his son watching the scene with an almost eager expression.

"They can beat him," Goku said without a hint of doubt in his voice.

Nappa punched at Tien with his free hand but was knocked aside by a joint kick from Yamcha and Krillin.

"You guys?" Tien let out in surprise.

"We're not about to let you fight this big guy alone," Yamcha said with a grin.

"This guy is seriously trying to kill us. We _have _to help."

Tien chuckled. It wasn't his style to outnumber an opponent, but this was a special case. This guy didn't look like the type to stick to a single fighter anyway.

Nappa skidded to a halt and glared at the three Earthlings standing side by side who were encased in a white aura. His scouter beeped furiously and he took an involuntary step back in shock.

"This thing is busted," he reasoned. There was no way that some damned Earthlings could come close to his power, let alone match it like one of them did.

"It's not busted," Bardock answered with a smirk, "If you want to go ahead and fight them all be my guest. Just don't expect me to bury you afterward."

Nappa growled but then broke into a smirk. He opened his right palm and a bright white orb began to form.

Goku watched the strange attack with a raised eyebrow. Looking at the attack felt...strange.

"Let's see what you do against this!" Nappa laughed but was silenced when Bardock's boot connected with his face. "Gah!"

"You fool! Creating a Power Ball here is beyond foolish! I already gave my word that we would not harm this planet or its people," Bardock reprimanded with a glare.

Nappa recovered from the attack and faced Bardock with a glare.

"You dare go against King Vegeta?! We have orders to sell this planet!"

Bardock smirked, "I'm the one in charge on this planet. What I say goes. What? Are you going to fight me to change my mind? Even with my broken arm, I can easily deal with you."

"Oh yeah," Goku nodded to himself once he remembered that he had Senzu Beans. He took one for himself and then reached for another.

Every scouter in the area switched on, picking up on the sudden spike in Goku's ki, and Bardock turned to the source with a startled expression. His son looked good as new. Only his clothes were damaged but other than that, he didn't have a scratch on him. Also, his power level had increased, as if he had a Zenkai boost.

"Here!"

Bardock caught a small bean, looked at it oddly and then ate it.

"Wha-!"

The effect was instant. As soon as he swallowed the thing, his arm snapped back into place, his wounds disappeared, and there was a sudden spike on his power.

He looked at his arm in awe, "What just happened?"

"That's a Senzu Bean," Goku explained with a laugh, "It heals you up!"

Mara looked at Goku in shock. Did he realize what he just did? This was partly her fault for not telling him to keep the Senzu Beans a secret but now – glancing at Nappa and seeing that he appeared _very _interested on the beans – they had to be careful around him.

"Ha. This is amazing," Bardock chuckled as he looked at his hands, feeling the power coursing through them. "These things have medical machines beat. To think we wanted to purge this planet."

Earth was perfect.

Other than the weak gravity, the beans made it an ideal place to train. No matter how tired or broken they were after training, they could just eat a bean and keep on training with an added Zenkai boost. This was it. What he was searching for! A perfect place to become stronger together with his family!

"You've grown strong Kakarot, but it isn't enough," Bardock began with an excited smirk on his face. "There are countless warriors in the universe who are stronger than you, stronger than us." He crossed his arms and glanced at his other son, "Starting tomorrow the three of us are going to start training."

Raditz appeared confused – hadn't he been training with him already? – while Goku seemed excited.

"Don't let our training in the past fool you Raditz, this time we're not stopping until we can't walk anymore."

* * *

Footsteps echoed on the spacious throne room where a displeased King Vegeta sat.

Three figures took a knee as their King spoke.

"There is a task I require you three to take. A Saiyan, Bardock, has not responded to any attempts at communication in six months. Furthermore, Princess Mara accompanied him on his mission."

The King clenched his right fist.

"As communication has failed, you three will go find them. If they were killed, then avenge them."

His eyes narrowed as he added, "If they defected, kill them and bring Princess Mara back. Is that understood."

Among the three Saiyans, the on kneeling in the middle – a younger image of the King – smirked.

"Clearly, Father."

* * *

**Power Levels:**

**Goku –** 20,000

_Powered Up _\- 30,000

_Full Power –_ 35,000

_Zenkai –_ 36,500

**Bardock –** 20,000

_Full Power –_ 37,000

_Zenkai –_ 39,000

**Mara –** 27,000

**Tien –** 14,000

_Full Power –_ 26,000

**Yamcha –** 12,000

_Full Power –_ 25,000

**Krillin –** 12,000

_Full Power –_ 24,500

**Raditz –** 24,000

**Nappa –** 26,000

**Piccolo –** 2,000


	13. Fleeting Peace

**Sorry about the long wait. To be honest, I had this chapter written a while ago but for some reason forgot that I hadn't posted it. Still, even though it was a dumb mistake, I got the next two chapters almost ready to come out. **

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 13**

**Fleeting Peace**

The Earth was at peace.

Even though there were many things that would be coming in the future, very _dangerous _things, everything was peaceful at the moment.

For Bardock this was possibly the first time in his life that he was in a peaceful planet where he didn't have to answer to anybody. It was a bit odd to completely change his lifetime in under a year – he never worried about what he would do next before, because all he had to do was ask for a new mission – but he was putting in the effort because it was worth it. His family came first, this was something he believed for years, that's why it was so easy for him to turn his back on his home planet in favor of keeping his family close.

Still, just because ha and Gine were fine with it, it didn't mean that the others were.

Raditz seemed upset, mostly because of how worried he was over essentially going to war against Planet Vegeta. His son didn't say it but it was obvious that he thought that having every Saiyan as an enemy meant certain death. Bardock couldn't really do anything to ease his son's worry, but what he could do was train for when they surely faced another Saiyan.

Nappa, of course, was very open about his anger over the decision that he had no part in. He even tried to go back to Planet Vegeta last week but was stopped of course.

If he were to leave the planet and tell the others about Earth's secrets, such as those miraculous beans, then the planet was as good as sold.

Surprisingly, who he expected to be the most against the idea, Mara didn't appear to be affected by the decision at all. She was either a good actor, or had been brought up in a way that made her want to get away from her family. This was a clear act of defiance on their part but she was willing to stay.

It was because of this that he didn't turn her down when she asked if she could join him, Raditz, and Goku in their training.

Only a week into it, three days since she joined, he was teaching the three attacks and having them spar with certain conditions that they could not break.

Speaking of which, Kakarot still hadn't come back since he left with Gine early in the morning. Her ship wouldn't turn on so the two of them went to get it fixed with some mechanic.

Bardock crossed his arms while standing in the middle of a deserted space not too far from where they lived. Lately it had been a bit rare for him to be all alone and he would make the most of this opportunity.

It was time for his own training.

* * *

"This is amazing!" Bulma marveled at the alien technology put into the Saiyan pod.

For a warrior race that took over worlds by killing all of its inhabitant, they were quite advanced in their technology. There were elements that she couldn't find on Earth, but for someone like her, they could be replicated if she took samples of it. Some of them were incredibly durable and explained how such a little space pod could travel across the universe and withstand breaking through the atmosphere.

"Can you fix it?" Gin asked, snapping Bulma out of her train of thought.

"Of course, no problem," she answered with a smile. "Do you need it fixed by a certain day?"

"Not really, but the sooner the better. Bardock wanted to use it to take Goku and the others to train in a planet with more gravity."

Bulma raised her eyebrows and put a hand to her chin. Leaving the planet just to train seemed pretty extreme. If they wanted to train at a stronger gravity then maybe she could do something.

That's right!

With then strong new elements she found on the pod, she could make material strong enough to withstand stronger gravity without collapsing in on itself. Yeah, she could see it now. A whole room that could change its gravity at the push of a button!

"If you need a place with strong gravity, then I'm pretty sure I can make you one. I'll even put it in a capsule so that you can take it home."

"Can you really do something like that?"

Bulma grinned, "It's going to be a bit difficult but I can do it. Just give me a week and I'll have a working model. I just need to keep your ship here, is that okay?"

"No problem," Gine assured.

Tapping the screen of one of the many computers on Bulma's lab in a bored manner, Goku turned his head towards the two when he heard those words. It sounded like they were done, right?

Gine seemed to notice what her son was thinking and smiled, "Well, if you don't need anything else from us, we'll be leaving."

"Yeah, just come by next week and I'll have your ship ready. I'm not a hundred percent sure about the Gravity Room, but it'll take me about that long to have it working."

"Thank you Bulma, we'll see you next week then," Gine waved and headed for the door, "Come on Goku."

The boy smiled and ran after his mom but not before waving at Bulma as well, "See ya later!"

He caught up to her and walked at her side, "Do we need to do anything else today?"

"Not really," Gine answered with a thoughtful look. "Did you want to go somewhere today?"

"Mara wanted me to go with her somewhere, and then we're going to spar."

She smiled at the excited look on her son's face and rubbed his head fondly, "Okay you can go. Have fun."

Goku smiled from ear to ear, gave his mom a hug, and took to the skies.

* * *

Yamcha shuddered as he walked through a harsh snowy mountain.

His training had increased in difficulty and he decided to scale a large mountain said to be the grave of countless explorers. There were some morbid signs that people had died, like crossed, and even scattered clothes that were barely visible under the snow, but he pushed on until he could hardly breathe.

By pushing his body to the limit in his training, he was sure that there would me amazing results. Even if for someone that lived in the desert for years, this was very close to hell.

"Okay, this looks like a good spot," he said to himself when reaching an open space. Here he could set up camp and train since it was a pretty big spot.

He dropped the large backpack on his back and stretched his body.

The Saiyans were still on Earth. He didn't believe that Goku's father would go back on his word but the other, the bald one, might. Not to mention the possibility of more Saiyans coming to Earth.

"Alright!" He let out as he jumped in the air and kicked.

* * *

Three Saiyan pods crashed into a vast desert planet. Several massive creatures with spiked black scales around their bodies turned towards the source of the sound as the doors of the pod opened up.

Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans, frowned as he stretched his limbs. Even as a short stop, this planet was not worth his time. The weather was terrible and there didn't appear to be any intelligent lifeforms on the desolate planet.

Casting a glance at the other two Saiyans, he concluded that he might be the only intelligent being in the planet after all.

"This place is dead," said one of the other two Saiyans. With his almost gray skin he really seemed out of place.

"Tell me about it," the other Saiyan said. Out of the three, he was the tallest by far and was quite muscular as well. His scarred face as well as his long graying black hair held in a ponytail, spoke of years of experience.

They were Turles and Cumber, two Saiyans that his father considered capable.

Vegeta frowned at the thought.

He didn't think that bringing Turles, a half-breed of a Saiyan and some other race (hence his almost gray skin), was a good idea. The bastard was the cousin of Bardock after all and if he did rebel, then Turles might get it in his head to fight against them.

Neither would he have brought Cumber. He was an adviser to his father and his age was starting to show. It wasn't lost on Vegeta that on the rare occasions that they sparred, he was losing speed.

His father should have just sent him by himself. Handling trash like Bardock wasn't difficult.

One of the massive creatures that towered over the Saiyans, roared while stomping forward, kicking up large clouds of sand with every step.

"I wonder how this thing tastes," Turles said with a smirk as he floated until he was at eye-level with the creature, and then threw his arm forward.

A massive bright yellow ki blast, engulfed the creature and the area around it in a powerful explosion that rocked the area.

Vegeta clicked his tongue and flared up his ki so that the sand wouldn't get all over his clothes.

Turles chuckled once the smoke from the blast died down and there was nothing left but a massive crater, "Ha. I should have watched my strength."

"Prince Vegeta," Cumber began, "Should we look for something to eat here?"

"No need. The rations should suffice. We only stopped here to stretch our legs and see if there might be something useful in this planet. Now that we know this is a speck of dust, let's continue moving."

Turles frowned at the exchange, having wanted to stay to hunt for something, but followed suit as the two Saiyans returned to the pods.

* * *

Mara floated in the air when when she felt Goku's ki heading her direction not too long ago. Whatever he went must not have been too far from where they lived, to them anyway since they could travel long distances in a few minutes.

She crossed her arms and waited until she finally saw him in the distance. A smile crossed her face as he came closer and closer until he stopped in front of her with a grin.

"I'm back."

"Good, that means we can go now," she said as the two began to fly.

"Where are we going?"

"Last time we saw that Bulma person, she mentioned something to me. About a certain food that I should try."

"Really?" Goku asked, his eyes wide in wonder. Living in a mountain away from society had made a lot of food foreign to him. Even now he was still discovering new foods every time there was a party with his friends.

"So what's the name of this food?"

Mara put on a serious expression, "Ice cream."

It didn't take the two long to reach a city and descend on one of the streets, unaware of the many startled people looking at them as if they grew a second head.

"So where are we going to find this _ice cream_?" Goku asked.

"I guess we should ask someone," she decided and pointed to one of the people looking at them in shock, "Try that person over there."

Goku jogged over to a girl in a yellow dress and looked up at her with a friendly smile, "Hey, do you know where we can find ice cream?"

"Um..." She trailed off before she pointed down the street, "If you go straight that way you'll run into a shop. You can't miss it, it has big colorful letters outside."

"Thanks," he nodded and went back to Mara, "She said it's that way and that it's gonna have big colorful letters."

"Okay, let's fly there, it'll be faster."

Shocked onlookers were left speechless when they saw the two kids float and then fly away.

* * *

"This is most likely the place," Mara said.

She and Goku had landed outside of a shop with big colorful letter outside, just like the person had told them.

"Wait," Goku stopped her before they went in "We're gonna need money to eat here and I didn't bring any."

"Not to worry, Bulma gave me some after telling me about the ice cream. Said that zenny is the currency in this place."

Goku nodded, understanding the gist of it and feeling thankful to Bulma, before they both went in and were greeted by various curious stares. Neither noticed as the boy led them to the counter where a person was wearing a funny looking big white hat with red stripes.

"Hi there, we're looking for ice cream."

The worker, an old lady, smiled at the simple-mindedness of the boy, "Then you're in the right place. What would you like to order?"

"Ice cream," Goku answered.

"But there's many flavors of it. Which flavor would you like?"

The boy had a look of realization on his face as the lady led them to a large table with a glass that showed all sorts of different colors.

"Hmm..." he crossed his arms and finally pointed. "This one, that one, and this one."

"Chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla," the woman said, writing it down, and then turned to the girl standing next to the boy, "And what would you like young lady?"

Mara visually flinched in surprise as a blush spread through her cheeks and she looked down.

"Oh my, there's no need to be shy."

"I-I'd like the same."

"Very well then."

The two watched in curiosity and the lady picked up a couple of cones, and then watched in fascination as she began to put scoops of the colored food on the cone.

"Here you go," the old lady handed them the cones with a motherly smile.

Mara's eyes lit up as she held the colorful food on her hand before she swallowed a lump in her throat and timidly reached the counter and gave the old lady a stack of cash.

"T-This is way more than you should pay."

"You can keep it," she answered before grabbing the hand of Goku and pulling him out of the store just as we was about to take a bite of his ice cream.

* * *

In a rocky valley, floating over the peak of a mountain while in a sitting position as white aura cackled like electricity around his body, was Piccolo.

After training his body, he would take time to enter a deep mediation to strengthen his mind.

Such an exercise was necessary considering that the more time he spent alive, the more things he would gain - or regain - from his previous life. It was an odd experience, as he trained he would remember techniques at random.

Not only that though. At times dark memories and thoughts would emerge. When such times came, it took almost all he had to keep himself from listening. _That _voice, telling him to take over the world and kill everyone was getting harder and harder to ignore. Were it not for his 'parents' he would have succumbed to the voice much earlier.

Piccolo took in a deep breath and cleared his mind. He wouldn't give in to the voice.

* * *

Goku sighed contently as he and Mara sat at the edge of a tall building, having finished their ice cream. Even though it had made his head hurt, Goku had to say that he really liked the new food. It looked like Mara felt the same since she had a smile on her face.

"Alright," he said while getting off the building and floating next to Mara, "We should go spar now."

She grinned, "I was about to ask you the same thing. We should do it high in the sky this time, the air runs thinner there and having an aerial fight should be good training. We can't expect to always fight on the ground after all."

The boy nodded eagerly as the two shot up to the sky.

* * *

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

Bardock and the three training under him; Goku, Mara, and Raditz, entered a large rectangular steel room with 'Capsule Corp' written on it, that came from a capsule Bulma had given them. The inside of the room was spacious and had a computer in a corner, it was what would change the gravity, Bulma had said.

Bardock still wasn't convinced that the room could actually change into a heavier gravity, despite Gine telling him that Bulma could do it, so when he pressed a couple of buttons on the computer to change the gravity, he was surprised when he actually felt weight pushing down on his body.

Raditz had a similar reaction as he stumbled slightly at the sudden change and his brow furrowed in surprise.

Mara grinned to herself when she felt the change, the gravity in the room was now comparable to that of the one in Planet Vegeta. Bulma could certainly build incredible things.

Unlike the others who had experienced changing gravity before, Goku's reaction was a lot more different.

His eyes narrowed, as if he were in deep thought, and his fists clenched tightly. He hadn't thought much about what a change in gravity would be like – he figured that it would be like wearing weighted clothing – but now he realized how much different it was. But before he let himself be overwhelmed, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath just like Kami had taught him.

Once he calmed down, he opened his eyes and stretched his body.

"Okay then, I'm going to change the gravity into twenty times what it is here," Bardock announced as he pressed a button and their bodies were put under more strain. "On the rare occasions that we went to planets like this, we would say that sparring was the best way to get used to it. So let's go. All of you come at me!"

* * *

Once training was over, an exhausted Raditz sat on the grass outside of the Gravity Room, his breathing hard and beads of sweat rolling down his face. Their weak power levels aside, he had to admit that the humans were crafty.

He was broken out of his thoughts when a water bottle hit his head lightly and he turned to see a grinning Kakarot.

"What do you want?"

Goku, unfazed by the irked tone, sat down on the grass while Raditz drank from the water bottle.

"Hey, is it true that we're going to fight other Saiyans later on?"

Raditz raised an eyebrow, not sure where Kakarot was going with this.

"Yes, it's true."

"Are they strong?"

"Some aren't, but there are others that are stronger than you can imagine," Raditz said before letting out a sigh, "I can't believe I let myself be dragged into this, all because of you refusing to do your job."

Goku chuckled.

Raditz frowned, "What are you laughing at brat?"

"You might act angry, but you're still here," Goku said with a smile, "That means you're on our side."

His older brother smirked before chuckling, "Don't get it wrong brat. I'm just looking for a good fight. Besides, all of us are too stubborn to die, those fools might as well give up before trying anything."

* * *

**Power Levels:**

**Goku –** 1,000

_Powered Up –_ 20,000

**Mara –** 1,000

_Powered up –_ 20,000

**Bardock –** 10,000

**Yamcha –** 15,000

**Piccolo –** 8,000


	14. Reunion and Farewell

**Here's the new chapter. This marks the start of the first long arc, since all the others were resolved pretty fast. **

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 14**

**Reunion and Farewell **

Goku flew through the blue skies and could already see West City in the distance.

It was odd for him to have a day off now since his father was pretty intense on their training sessions. Coupled with the Gravity Room, he had to say that this was the hardest he had ever trained. Still, he felt himself improving and sparring with the others was super fun.

In any case, the reason for his visit to West City was because Bulma had asked him to help her with something the last time he went to her house with his mom. The two of them had become friends at some point, a fact that made him glad.

The boy grinned as he flew over Bulma's house, and noticed that she was standing behind the large yellow building.

"You're just in time," Bulma said as the boy touched down on the ground.

"In time for what?"

"We're going on a little trip."

He cocked his head to the side as she took out a capsule and threw it in the air. With an explosion of smoke, a large red ship emerged.

"Working on your mom's spaceship was restricting since I really wanted to take the whole thing apart but couldn't since there was a chance that I could cause irreversible damage. So I figured that we could find yours."

"Mine?"

"Yup, you came from another planet too right? That means that your ship should still be out there somewhere. That's why I built a radar to help me find it, but I'm going to need you to give me a general direction. Do you have any idea of where it could be? Did your grandfather ever say anything about it?"

Goku crossed his arms as his brow furrowed in thought, "He never said anything about a spaceship, but he did tell me that he found me somewhere in Mount Paozu."

"Alright, this is going to be easy then," she declared with an excited smile, "It's far away enough that the other ships won't interfere with the search. So let's not waste any more time and get going."

Goku smiled at the idea of going back to his old home and followed Bulma into the large red shp.

"This is the only ship with a crane..." Bulma frowned upon entering the ship, "I really should have worked on making it faster."

"It's okay," he waved her off and went to sit against a wall on the spacious space behind the two seats up front. "I'll be back here training."

"No way! You're going to destroy the ship!"

Goku chuckled as he sat in a lotus position and leaned forward with a grin, "Don't worry, I don't have to move around with this training."

Bulma didn't take his word for it until she saw him take a deep breath and close his eyes. To her surprise he looked incredibly peaceful, in a way that she had never seen him before.

Well, if this was the training then she didn't have a problem with it.

Moving to sit on the pilot's seat, she glanced at the quiet boy and for the first time noticed just how much he had changed. He had only been eight when she first met him in the woods and hadn't grown a lot by the time of the second World Martial Arts Tournament, however now it seemed like he was beginning to hit a growth spurt as he was considerably taller than she remembered him. Nothing crazy that made him stand out around boys his own age, but enough for her to notice.

_'Krillin's probably upset about it,' _she thought with a giggle.

Soon she started the ship and the two were off.

* * *

Unlike any other day, Mara found herself waking up quite late. Since it was a day off from training she decided to fully rest her tired body after the previous day of harsh training that – though harsh – was doing wonders. Her power level had increased noticeably and spending so much time training under a stern adult Saiyan was making her a bit better at talking to him.

She hated to admit it but she was glad that Goku was there. His light mood even affected Bardock at times when his narrowed eyes found hers after she messed up on a training exercise. Not that he had it out for her or anything, he put Goku and Raditz under the same stern gaze whenever they broke a rule of their training, like not using their dominant on a spar or using ki blasts.

"Afternoon," Gine greeted her with an amused smile after she made her way out of her room.

The strange home that appeared after throwing something on the air was pretty big, enough to fit her, and all of Goku's family. They could even fit another person in there but things between them and Nappa were quite strained. It made her quite uncomfortable to be at odds with someone so loyal to her family even though said someone could be pretty harsh on her at times and never hid his disappointed when assigned to go on a mission with her.

"Hey," Mara greeted. "Where is everyone?"

"Bardock and Raditz went to run some errands and Goku went to see Bulma."

"Is something wrong?"

"Not at all, she just wanted help with something."

She nodded and noticed that Gine was cooking something.

It was a job, cooking, given to Saiyans that were not strong enough to go on missions or lacked the personality to handle purging a planet. She never bothered with it since all of her meals were served to her, but she wasn't fine just sitting there while Gine made her something to eat. It didn't feel fair and she was starting to feel self-conscious.

"Do you need any help?"

Gine was surprised at the sudden offer but smiled nonetheless, "Sure."

* * *

Three Saiyan space pods crashed on the outskirts of a large city, leaving large crates on the pavement of a highway.

Several cars were crushed by the impact while most of the others crashed. Some lucky ones managed to break and stop in the road with a part of them getting out of their cars to see what happened.

Sirens were already coming closer as a few people peeked into the three craters and saw small alien ships.

There was a muted silence from the people as the space pods opened and three human figures wearing strange armor emerged. Two adults and one young man that appeared to be in his late teens.

"The gravity here is weak but it seems like a pleasant planet," one of the Saiyans, Cumber, pointed out. The purple scouter on his scarred face scanned the area around them and, to no surprise, he found that pathetic life forms had gathered around them.

Turles crossed his arms after emerging from his ship, "This planet ain't purged. Either the others were killed or..."

"They defected," Vegeta finished with a smirk. "I've been meaning to wipe the floor with your cousin Turles. Seems this is the perfect chance."

Turles chuckled and turned to the oldest Saiyan, "Looks like this is going to be fun. Let's hope it was worth the trip, Cumber."

Vegeta ignored everyone around him and pressed his scouter a couple of times. Last he heard, Bardock had hit twenty-thousand so he would start there and make his scouter show him power levels with at least that power level. It beeped as it scanned before it stopped and showed him the results.

Strange.

Other than he, Turles and Cumber, the scouter showed him three other power levels over twenty-thousand. Nothing he couldn't handle but surprising nonetheless since only trash had been sent to this back-water planet.

"Bardock is most likely the strongest out of these insects, but first we'll retrieve Mara. That useless brat can be hard to find."

He gave the instruction and lowered the power level scale to that of what she had last time but immediately hit a wall since there were several power levels that could easily be that of Mara. Damn, it appeared that this would be a lot harder than he first thought.

A flash of light made his eye twitch in annoyance. The worms around them had begun to send weak flashes of light at them with some strange tiny machines.

"Finding her will be too much trouble. Let's light some fireworks instead, it'll get their attention."

Turles smirked as the three ascended to the sky.

Vegeta nodded at Cumber, who then smirked and pointed a hand at the city.

* * *

Kami stumbled and supported himself on his cane when he witnessed what just happened. Horror was clear in his eyes and Mr. Popo had the tact not to ask what happened.

"This is bad..." he muttered before he closed his eyes and concentrated on contacting his former disciple.

* * *

_'Goku!'_

The boy's brow furrowed in surprise as he focused on the voice. This really wasn't anything new, they had communicated this way before, but Kami hadn't done it ever since he left the temple.

'Kami? What's wrong?'

_'More Saiyans arrived. They just destroyed a whole city!'_

"Wha-"

His voice subconsciously slipped out, gaining Bulma's attention, but he quickly focused on the voice again.

_'I don't know their intentions but they are not like your family. These Saiyans are dangerous.'_

'Okay. I'm on it.'

_'Don't be hasty Goku. If you go there by yourself, you'll be killed. First find someone to go with you.'_

Goku nodded and opened his eyes.

"Goku? What's wrong?"

"Sorry Bulma," he stood up and opened the back of the ship, "There's something bad going on and I need to go. Keep going to Mount Paozu, you should be safe there."

With that last warning, he jumped off the ship and shot through the air at a fast speed.

* * *

"Oh?" Vegeta let out from his sit on a large boulder left behind by the explosion. His scouter picked up something, it seemed that their fireworks had been noticed already. He checked the power level and almost let out a gasp of surprise.

"Thirty nine thousand?!" Cumber stood up straight, horror on his face.

Turles frowned and checked his scouter only to get the same reading, "Who the hell is that?"

Vegeta crossed his arms and stood up, "Whoever it is, he's not coming here. Probably off to get some help."

"Then what do we do? If there are others with such powerful power levels, we might be in trouble," Cumber said.

"Don't be foolish," Vegeta smirked, "I'm a Saiyan Elite. None of the trash here can even scratch me. We'll wait here, for their pitiful defense force to arrive."

Turles and Cumber exchanged glances but followed the words of their Prince regardless.

* * *

Goku's worried frown relaxed slightly when he felt a familiar ki moving towards him. He sped up towards where the ki was coming from until he finally saw Mara's figure in the distance.

"I felt your ki spike randomly, did something happen?" She asked once she caught up to him.

He nodded as the two began to travel through the sky.

"Kami told me that some Saiyans showed up and destroyed a city. I have to go stop them."

Mara felt a bit nervous after hearing that, but pressed on regardless. She knew this day would come, when they would have to directly go against the others, but perhaps it was a bit too naïve of her to think that it was still far away.

"I'll help you," she said. This was now her home and it was the least she could do to show some appreciation for what Goku had taught her without his knowing.

Goku smiled, "Then let's go faster!"

She returned the smile as the two became encased in white aura and shot off much faster than before.

* * *

Thirty minutes after they noticed the two power levels moving towards them, Vegeta and the others could finally make out two noticeable dots in the sky.

Vegeta smirked as he stood up, eyes trained on the figures with eagerness in his eyes. He never expected competent power levels, one of them must be Bardock. The other he didn't know.

He quickly went over the list of those that had traveled here.

Nappa? Of course not, he was a weakling, forever a simple servant.

Raditz? He laughed at the idea.

Bardock's wife? She wasn't even a warrior.

That only left Bardock's other son.

His eyes narrowed in thought but he didn't have to wait much for the answer as the figures finally became visible and stopped above the three Saiyans.

"B-Brother..." Mara muttered with horror in her eyes.

Vegeta checked his scouter again just to be sure and smirked at the result, "Mara, it seems you grew less useless in your time away. Tell me, why have you not returned? Father believes that you turned traitor along with the trash that came with you."

Mara's mouth opened and closed as she began to back away slowly, fear evident in her features. All of her insecurities came crashing back, memories of being belittled by her brother and harshly beaten during their rare spars...

"What's wrong, can't speak?" Vegeta chuckled, "You were always pathetic."

"Enough!" Goku moved in front of Mara and glared at the Saiyan Prince, "I don't know who you are, but I won't let you talk like that to my friends!"

Vegeta smirked, "Wipe that look off your face insect. I can do whatever I want. If you have a problem then I'll make you kneel on the ground and cry for mercy."

Goku growled but was snapped out of it when he felt Mara grab his arm, when he turned his head to see her he realized that the friend he knew was gone. The strong, and sometimes cocky, Mara was replaced with a quivering girl who couldn't even raise her head.

To see her reduced to this state... Goku's eyes narrowed on Vegeta, he must have something to do with it.

"Please...don't fight him."

"It'll do you well not to," Vegeta said, "It would save you a lot of hurt." He paused and then chuckled, "No. Maybe you should fight back. I came with the intention of taking Mara back by force and killing anyone with her."

Goku closed his eyes and spoke in a voice that only Mara could hear, "I don't know why you're so afraid of him, but I promise that I won't let him take you."

"He must be Bardock's son," Cumber pointed out.

"It's strange of him to send his brat to fight his battles for him," Turles said before he broke into a smirk, "Must be losing his touch."

"Prince Vegeta," Cumber said, stepping forward and bowing slightly, "Would you like me to take care of this brat?"

Vegeta uncrossed his arms when the boy landed on the ground, "That won't be necessary. I'll teach him a lesson myself. It might be good to greet Bardock with the body of his dead son."

"Very well."

The two Saiyans stepped away as Vegeta faced Bardock's son who got into his fighting style.

Vegeta only smirked in response, even relaxing his stance a little bit before he suddenly received a painful punch to his jaw that sent him hurling back. His eyes widened in surprise, having not expected the brat to be so fast, and quickly skidded to a halt just in time to sidestep a kick and lash out with a backhand that sent the kid flying back. He wasn't done however as he thrust his hands forward and fired a couple of ki blasts.

Goku gritted his teeth when he noticed the two attacks coming towards him, and pushed himself off the ground with his hands and flipped in the air while bringing his hands to his right side.

"Kamehameha!"

Vegeta smirked and shot over the attack towards the boy who still had his hands still outstretched. With the brat leaving himself wide open like that, he punched at him but his eyes widened in surprise when his fist went through him. Before he had the time to wonder what happened, a knee collided with the side of his face and sent him hurling away.

"This is impossible!" Cumber let out in a mixture of shock and horror.

Turles furrowed his brow and checked his scouter, "Says he has a power level of thirty nine thousand!"

In the blink of an eye, a blue flash tore through the area before crashing against a surprised Goku that only managed to put up a hand, though it did nothing as a fist met his jaw head on with such force that he was sent hurling away. Vegeta didn't let up and followed after the boy, disappearing from view and reappearing behind the boy just in time to deliver a kick to his back, that sent him flying up in the air.

The Prince of all Saiyans smirked as he followed after the kid, who managed to flip himself in the air and let out a beam of ki that was laughably off mark. As Vegeta got close enough to attack, he was blindsided as the attack from before ended up exploding against his back.

Taking the opportunity, Goku twisted his body so that he could kick his opponent on the side of his face and knock him back so that he could get a bit of breathing room.

Things...they looked really bad.

Goku could feel exhaustion beginning to set in, those couple of strikes from Vegeta had done some real damage.

Still...

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists and he willed his power to come out. Even if those hits had taken a lot out of him, he still hadn't gone all out.

"Hm?" Turles raised an eyebrow when his scouter came to life, beeping rapidly as it calculated a change in power level. "F-forty... forty one... forty two... FORTY TWO THOUSAND!"

A violent blue aura swirled around Goku as he dropped into his fighting stance and watched as Vegeta shook off the damage done to him.

"You actually have some fight in you," Vegeta chuckled, "If we met under different circumstances, you might have made for a decent punching bag. But now..."

White aura exploded around Vegeta with such force that even Goku was knocked back from the sudden shock wave.

"Now you're nothing more than a bug I will squash!"

Goku stood there in shock, even though he had just unleashed all of his power, he could feel a very noticeable difference between him and Vegeta.

* * *

During the time in his two weeks training the brats, Bardock had decided to do like his youngest son and learn to sense power levels instead of relying on a scouter. It was a bit hard, and Kakarot not being much help when it came to explaining certainly didn't help, but after a week he had gotten decent.

That's why a few moments ago, while he set a large fish down while Raditz had gone inside the house to call his mother, Bardock had quickly turned his head after sensing his youngest son's ki.

It was elevated, much more so than he did in training, and there was someone else there, someone more powerful than him.

Bardock decided not to wait for answers and quickly took to the skies and headed in the direction of what was most likely a battle.

* * *

Moving through the sky while engaged in a flurry of punches and kicks, Goku and Vegeta continued their fight. The prince smirked as he landed a blow to Goku's jaw, but the latter quickly retaliated with a kick to his side.

Vegeta gasped slightly, not having expected the attack to actually hurt him, and backhanded the insolent brat away with enough force to send him crashing on the ground and kick up a massive dust cloud.

Not done, Vegeta growled and let loose a barrage of ki blasts on the brat.

Turles and Cumber gritted their teeth and moved back as the attacks were lighting up everything around them.

Finally, the attacks came to a stop, leaving a giant cloud of debris.

As it began to clear, Goku slowly got back up on his feet with his clothes torn up in several places, and various bleeding wounds on his body.

"Is that the extent of what you can do?" Vegeta smirked. Though he had a few scratches, he appeared to be completely fine.

Goku felt his hands trembling and knew that his power was going down fast. He hadn't been able to dodge the ki blasts and had been force to focus all of his power on defense.

Now he was breathing harshly, his body was trembling over the damage he had taken, and his right eye was swollen shut, from the backhand he had received.

Even so, he had to do something!

Blue aura exploded around him, kicking up clouds of dust before he pushed off the ground, causing it to give out under him, and moved straight towards Vegeta.

The price crossed his arms and clicked his tongue.

Goku threw a kick but Vegeta caught it with no problem. He narrowed his eyes on the brat, holding his leg in place while the low-class trash glared at him. It was about time he killed him.

However, something unexpected happened.

"Solar Flare!"

Vegeta let out a scream and dropped his hold on the leg as a blinding flash of light hit his eyes dead on.

Goku took the opportunity, gathered all his remaining power into his right fist, and delivered a devastating punch to Vegeta's stomach.

The Saiyan Prince let out a chocked scream as blood shot out of his mouth and a large chunk of his armor broke off.

Goku gritted his teeth as he twisted in the air and followed up his attack with a kick to Vegeta's neck, which sent him crashing down on the ground.

"Impossible," Turles muttered to himself, his eyes wide as he watched Vegeta fall on the ground, heavily damaged.

"You damned brat..." Vegeta growled as he began to regain his vision and stood up, only to stagger backwards and fall again.

"Leave this planet now," Goku, though severely weakened, warned. "There's people coming to help already."

Cumber checked his scouter and gasped, "There's a powerful power level coming this way. It's... forty six thousand!"

"No, there's more coming," Turles said, "I can feel several coming this way, most of the bordering and surpassing thirty thousand."

Vegeta gritted his teeth and stood up while wiping the blood off his lips, "We're leaving."

There was little he could do to calm the rage he felt at being forced to leave the planet so soon, but his father had been quite clear in saying that the main objective of this mission was to take Mara back to Planet Vegeta. He hated to admit it but the fight against the brat had actually weakened him and, while he could transform into a Great Ape, so could Bardock.

Failing a mission was the last thing he would do. Besides, he could always track the low-class scum again. So long as they had their ships, it would be easy to find them.

He walked up to Mara who cowered under his stern gaze, and did nothing as he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to his side. "Cough up the remote of your ship."

"Let her go!" Goku screamed as he flew towards them but was blindsided as Turles' fist collided with his jaw and knocked him against the ground.

Vegeta watched the scene in satisfaction and nodded at Cumber, who bowed slightly before moving towards the brat and stomping on his chest.

The boy coughed up blood and groaned painfully as the man stomped on his chest again.

"Give me the remote to your space pod or this brat will die," Vegeta warned her as he gripped her hair tighter.

Mara trembled with tears in her eyes and did as she was told. She took out the remote and gave it to her brother. She _had _to. She was always told to listen to him and, even now, she was too afraid of going against that.

"Cumber, stay here and wait for the ship to arrive," Vegeta instructed after having pressed a couple of buttons on the remote. "Mara will take your ship."

Goku struggled against the foot digging into his chest, watching helplessly as Mara was dragged away by the hair.

"M-Mara..."

"Shut it brat," Cumber warned.

He gripped the foot weakly as his desperate eyes watched as Vegeta threw Mara into an open Saiyan Pod.

"Mara!"

"Don't...Goku," she said with trembling lips as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Please, just forget about me. Please stay quiet, you'll get to live that way."

Goku ignored her words and fought against the foot on his chest, "I.."

"Stop! Please," Mara sobbed, "We can't do anything. Just stop fighting...Stop fighting and you'll live."

Stop fighting? No. He couldn't. He _wouldn't_.

Goku's eyes flashed with determination as he slowly began to grip the boot tighter until he finally lifted it off his chest. The older Saiyan looked at him in surprise, which was just what he needed.

Managing with his remaining strength, he drew enough power for an attack, "Solar Flare!"

Cumber stumbled backwards with a cry of pain, as Goku slowly stood up.

Good. Now he could-

"Eh?"

A ki blast went through his right shoulder, leaving a bloody gaping hole as he hit the ground with a cry of pain.

He felt..._empty._

Completely overwhelmed.

Because, the outstretched hand which shot the attack, was Mara's.

Vegeta smirked at the scene as he entered his Saiyan pod.

"M-Mara..." Goku gasped incredulously.

"Don't come for me," she said with a hardened expression that crumbled quickly, "P-Please...don't..."

Goku gritted his teeth, helplessly watching as the pods closed and finally took off.

"Mara..." he let out before his world went blank.

* * *

**Power Levels:**

**Goku –** 5,000

_Powered Up –_ 39,000

_Full Power –_ 42,000

_Weakened –_ 29,000

**Bardock –** 25,000

_Full Power –_ 46,000

**Mara –** 7,000

_Powered Up –_ 39,000

**Vegeta –** 40,000

_Full Power –_ 47,000

_Weakened –_ 43,000

**Turles –** 38,000

_Full Power –_ 41,000

**Cumber –** 37,000

_Full Power –_ 40,000


	15. Gathering Warriors

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 15**

**Gathering Warriors**

Goku grumbled as his eyes opened slowly and closed at the glaring brightness of the sun peeking in through the window of his room.

"Thank goodness you're finally awake."

Surprised at hearing his mom's voice, he glanced to his side and noticed that she was sitting next to him; his father standing off to the side with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

"You're probably feeling disoriented," Bardock said. "Being out for a while can do that to you, I would know. Good thing we found one of your Earthling friends and had him get us a Senzu Bean, otherwise you might still be out."

Goku nodded, slowly absorbing the information that began to clear up his hazy memory. He couldn't remember getting home... Why was he home again? The last thing he remembered was fighting that Vegeta guy and then...

"Where's Mara?!"

"There was no sign of her when I found you," Bardock explained in a more serious tone of voice. "What happened?"

The boy gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, "Mara was taken by some Saiyans. I don't remember all of their names, but one of them looked like you."

Bardock narrowed his eyes when he heard that.

"And the one I fought was named Vegeta."

Gine's eyes widened and she turned to her husband in surprise.

"They sent the Prince himself," Bardock said with a humorless chuckle.

Goku nodded and stood up, "We have to get Mara back."

"There's no point in going after them," Bardock answered with a shake of his head.

"Why not?!" Goku shot back angrily.

"Think about this carefully," his father argued in a firm voice, "You have been out for a whole week since we couldn't get a Senzu Bean until today. That means that Vegeta is a whole **seven **days ahead of us. Even if we did go after them, the King would have made _and _carried out his decision."

"Decision?" Goku repeated.

"The punishment for deserting Planet Vegeta is either exile or death."

The boy's face twisted with horror. Mara was taken by her own brother just to exile or even kill her? What sort of family did that?

"I can't let that happen," he said in a serious voice, "I'm going to go help her by myself if I have to."

"Please calm down Goku," Gine said as she placed a hand on her son's shoulder, "I know you're friends with her, but you can't help her."

"There's nothing you can do," Bardock repeated, "We will end up facing the other Saiyans one day, but going to Planet Vegeta ourselves is suicide."

"There's _always _something I can do," Goku shot back angrily. "If you don't want to help then that's fine, but I won't let you stop me from going."

With that said, the boy jumped out the window and shot through the air at a fast speed, soon disappearing in the distance.

There was no way he was going to sit around while Mara was in danger. She was his friend, he had to do everything to help her. It didn't matter if Planet Vegeta was dangerous, in fact it was all the more reason to go.

Even so, right now he had no idea how to get to Planet Vegeta, or where it even was. But at least he had a good idea of who to ask for help.

* * *

"Shouldn't we go after him?' Gine asked, worry written all over her face.

"No," Bardock answered, "Let's let him blow off some steam and then talk to him again. He has to realize that sometimes its best to wait."

"Bardock, I..." she sighed and looked into his eyes, "I know Goku. He won't let this go, and I'm not even sure I disagree with him."

His brow furrowed at that, "What do you mean?"

"Leaving Mara all alone to face her family...I won't be able to forgive myself if something does happen to her."

Bardock sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Look, fine, I'll try to talk to some of my contacts to see what happens. If things really get bad, then I'll _think _about going to help her."

Gine smiled in relief. Whenever Bardock said he would 'think' about something, it always meant that he would do it. Which was surprising considering that Mara is not actually part of their family.

She grinned smugly and pointed a finger at her husband, "You do care what happens to her, don't you?"

"S-shut up," he muttered before getting out of the room, leaving a giggling Gine behind.

* * *

It wasn't long until Goku touched down on Kami's lookout. Feeling like he had no time to waste, he did not even notice that he had gotten there much faster than before.

"I was expecting you Goku," Kami greeted as he stepped out of his temple with Mr. Popo at his side.

"Kami, I need your help! The Saiyans took-"

"I already know all about it," Kami interrupted with a serious expression on his face. "I also know that you wish to go find her."

Goku nodded before his eyes lit up in realization, "Wait. What about the dragon balls? Can't we wish Mara back?"

"I'm afraid it won't be that simple," Kami answered with a shake of his head. "Shenron is powerful, but its powers cannot reach the Saiyans now that they've traveled such a great distance away from Earth."

"That's fine, I'll just go after them myself," Goku concluded.

Kami frowned, "Are you certain about this? Going there as you are now will only end in failure."

Goku scowled and clenched his fists, "I have to at least try."

The guardian looked at the boy carefully before a small smile crossed his face. "I was no implying that you should not go, but that doing so alone will be impossible. You should ask your friends for assistance."

Before the boy could answer, Kami turned and began to walk away.

"I will find the location of the planet, and tell you where it is telepathically."

"Thank you," Goku vowed before jumping off the lookout and shooting off towards his next stop.

* * *

"So you're telling me that you need a way to travel through space to save Mara..." Bulma repeated, noting that it sounded just as crazy when she said it herself.

Her day had started pretty normal too, just reading over some notes she wrote yesterday, and Goku suddenly showed up at her lab.

Goku nodded, "The Saiyans are already a whole week ahead of us."

So she didn't have a lot of time to build it...

Bulma smiled to herself, if that was the case then she would just need to build a ship that is much faster than that of the Saiyans.

"Don't worry Goku, I will make you a ship."

"Really?!"

"I _am _the world's greatest scientist and, after studying your old ship I finally understand how their technology works. And, between you and me, I can make something much better," Bulma boasted with a grin.

"Is it going to be faster?"

She chuckled at the question, "Absolutely. I can even equip it with a gravity room for you to train in." Her eyes lit up at the thought of making something so great, when she looked down at Goku with a worried frown, "Are you going all alone?"

Goku looked down, not really sure, "Kami told me to ask my friends but..."

"You think they'll be in danger," Bulma nodded in understanding before nudging him on the shoulder, "What are you talking about? They'll feel terrible if they know that you went somewhere dangerous without telling them."

"But..."

"Whether they'll go with you or not, it's their choice to make. Not yours," she explained, "Now go talk to them you big doofus."

Goku couldn't help but chuckle and nodded, "You're right. I'll be back later!"

Bulma giggled to herself as she watched the boy run out of her lab.

Now that she was alone, it was time to get started.

Having taken apart Goku's old ship and studied the technology deeply, she had a good grasp of what she was going to do. As it turned out, replicating the super strong material used for their ships was not too difficult.

There was a small issue though. She had no idea where the Saiyan planet was.

The best she could do was put off the navigation system for now, and then put together a set of coordinates to give her a layout for when she learned where the planet was.

If worse came to worse and she couldn't get the navigation to work, she would figure something out.

It was what she did best.

* * *

Despite the gravity of what was going on, Goku couldn't help but smile when he spotted Krillin, his best friend, standing on top of a rocky hill in a wasteland, waving his arms excitedly.

"Goku!" Krillin laughed as his friends landed next to him. It was rare for Goku to visit, they _were _training separately and they didn't have enough free time to see each other.

"Hey Krillin," the boy grinned.

"What are you doing here?" Krillin asked.

"I uh..." Goku trailed off, feeling a bit weird about what he was going to ask, but took a moment to close his eyes and think back on Bulma's words.

"I need your help."

* * *

Goku flew through the sky with Krillin holding on to his back.

"I have to learn to fly," Krillin grumbled.

"Don't worry," Goku grinned, "It's super easy once you get the hang of it. Maybe I can teach you the first steps while we wait for Bulma to finish the ship."

"I'm gonna hold you to that," his friend responded.

The young Saiyan smiled to himself when he heard that. There was no doubt that Krillin was his best friend, since he had agreed to help him even without him explaining anything. Even better, once he did explain, Krillin was still willing to go.

"Ah, so we're going to find Tien next."

Goku was broken out of his thoughts by Krillin's voice and answered, "Yup. He was the closest and he had Chiatzu with him."

"Now that you mention it, I can feel him as well," Krillin realized before his eyes went wide, "Whoa, he got a lot stronger."

A brief silence passed between them before Krillin looked at the back of his friend's head with a worried expression.

"Do you think we're strong enough to get Mara back?"

"Maybe not right now," Goku answered instantly before his eyes narrowed in determination, "But we **will **be."

* * *

Kami tensed slightly when he felt a ki closing in on his lookout.

Despite being in the process of communicating with someone that could help him find the Saiyan planet, he put that on hold to step out of the temple to meet the unannounced guest.

The Earth's guardian found it surprising that the _guest_ was strong enough to reach the lookout already.

Eyes narrowed, Kami drew in a breath when he saw the figure, wearing old ragged clothes, hovering over the lookout.

"We met a lot sooner than I expected Piccolo."

* * *

"No way, you guys are serious?" Yamcha asked in disbelief.

When his friends showed up out of nowhere in the middle of his training, he had an inkling that something might be wrong, but he never thought it would be something so serious and – well – dangerous.

"They came here around a week ago, I'm sure you felt their ki," Tien said.

Yamcha paled, "And _we're _going after them?"

Of course he had felt their power, it made him stop in the middle of training and feel insignificant in comparison. There were no words that described how relieved he was when he felt them leaving Earth. To think that those very same people took Goku's Saiyan friend...

A part of him – the old selfish desert bandit – didn't want to go with them out of self-preservation, but at the same time he knew that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if they left without him. He had experienced something similar before, back when he had his leg broken while the others were fighting King Piccolo, and he vowed to never let something like that happen again.

"C-count me in," he said after a momentary silence. This time he would not sit around while the others were in danger. It was what he trained his ass off for, and it was time to see the results.

His mouth twitched slightly until it formed into his trademark cocky grin, "We'll show those stinking Saiyans that no one messes with us."

"Goku is a Saiyan too," Krillin chimed in with a smug grin.

"No offense Goku," Yamcha added.

Goku only laughed in response.

"Speaking of Saiyans," Tien began and turned to Goku, "Is your family coming too."

The boy's mood darkened and he looked down at the ground, "They didn't want to help me."

"What?! Why wouldn't they?!" Krillin asked in indignation.

"They said that it was too dangerous to follow them."

"But they're letting you go anyway?" Yamcha asked with a frown.

Goku shook his head. "They don't know that I'm going," he said before adding, "Because I don't have a ship and don't know where Planet Vegeta is, they probably haven't even thought of me leaving."

"I see," Tien nodded.

"But if you don't know where they are and don't have a ship, how are we going to their planet?" Chiatzu asked.

Goku grinned, "Don't worry, I got those things taken care of already."

* * *

For the next week Goku stayed away from the place he now called home. Part of the reason was that he was still mad that his parents told him that there was no helping Mara, while the most important part didn't want his plans to be found out.

He still missed them though, and his mom had even come looking for him at Bulma's house a couple of times, but he kept his ki as low as possible and waited until she left. Bulma had lied about not knowing where he was, which he was thankful for, and he promised her that he would make up with his parents once everything was over.

Also, since he couldn't train – not wanting his ki to be found – he stuck to helping Bulma with the heavy lifting, and teaching Krillin the basics on how to fly.

Now, after a whole week of laying low, everything was ready. They had the ship – from Bulma – and the _'coordinates' _of the planet – from Kami.

Goku circled around the large circular ship in curiosity, while the others were talking.

The ship was pretty big and has the words '**Capsule Corp**' written on it. As he looked at the thing, the door of the ship began to open and, wearing a very funny yellow suit, Bulma walked down the ramp with a grin on her face.

"What's with the clothes?" Krillin wondered out loud.

"Since I didn't have the time to make a navigation system, I've got no choice but to take you guys there myself," Bulma declared before pointing at her spacesuit, "And don't worry, I've got suits waiting for you guys too."

"_You're _coming too?!" Yamcha let out in a perplexed tone, earning a glare from the inventor.

"Of course I am, unless _you _can somehow learn how to fly the ship and figure out where to go."

Goku, oblivious to the heated exchanged, smiled. Bulma wasn't very strong but she was super smart and knew everything – as she always told him – so having her come along would be great.

Bulma crossed her arms and turned away from Yamcha to face the others. With anger still in her voice she half-shouted, "Are all of you packed and ready?"

"Yes," Tien answered politely while adjusting the duffel back slung over his shoulder. At his side Chiatzu carried a backpack that was easily twice his small size.

"Guess we're all ready then," Krillin said while putting on the white and blue baseball cap he brough along.

As everyone began to board the ship, Goku stayed behind to look off in the distance with a frown. A large part of him felt really guilty about leaving without telling his family.

Even though they didn't to help him save Mara, it didn't mean that he didn't care about them and, as much as he wanted to see them during the past week, he knew that if they found out he was leaving, they would stop him.

That's why he had no choice.

Goku would never turn his back on a friend in need. Mara was all alone, surrounded by bad people who would decide what to do with her. Even so, while she was being taken away, she had tried to protect him in her own way.

At first he'd been shocked about her hurting him, but he realized later that she only did it to stop the others from killing him. By hurting him like that, whoever had been flying towards them, had increased their speed and made the Saiyans leave him unconscious on the ground.

That's why he's determined to help her no matter what.

Casting one last look in the direction of where his family was, Goku turned back and boarded the ship.

As soon as he entered the ship, the door closed, and the ship shot up into the sky before shooting out of the planet.

It was finally time to find and save Mara.


	16. Other Half

**Thanks a lot for reading guys, it's really great to see that you guys are liking the story. **

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 16**

**Other Half**

Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiatzu stood behind Bulma's pilot chair as she took the ship outside of their native planet, and into the endless blackness of space.

With a proud smile, Bulma unbuckled her seat-belt and faced the others with a confident grin.

"Alright, now that we're finally moving, I can start to show you guys around."

"Couldn't we have done that **before **we left..." Krillin muttered to himself but followed after Bulma and the others as they began to climb down the ladder which connected every level of the ship. When he got on he didn't have a chance to look around since Bulma didn't let him, so he was very curious as to what kind of ship she made in such little time.

The control room was pretty big, with enough chairs to sit them all, and a large window that showed where they were flying, so the other levels must be pretty interesting as well.

Once everyone had climbed down the ladder, they found themselves in a small circular room that had nothing but a thick metal door.

"This is the middle level, the biggest of the ship," Bulma explained. "It's where I put the Gravity Room and I made sure there was enough space for all of you to train. And no Goku, before you ask, you can't start training yet. Now come with me guys."

Goku pouted but complied and followed after Bulma as she climbed down the ladder to the last level of the ship.

Like before, they found themselves in a circular room except this one had the big door from which they entered the ship, and a smaller door on the other side.

Bulma opened the small door to reveal a medium-sized room with a large couch staring directly at a large screen. Goku recognized it as one of those glasses that showed pictures, **not **peopled trapped inside as he learned when he broke one of them before.

The boy looked around curiously, noticing a kitchen with glee, but followed after Bulma as she led them to a hallway on the steel wall behind the couch. On it were five doors that were all closed, with one of them being on the very end of the hallway.

"You guys probably figured it out already but this level is where our daily necessities will be found. Bedrooms, bathroom, laundry room, kitchen; it's all here. There wasn't enough room to have bedrooms for all of us so some of you have to share."

She frowns and raises her voice, "Of course since **I **built this ship, I get to have my own room."

Tien chuckled nervously but nodded, "Chiatzu and I have no problem sharing a room."

Bulma nods with her arms crossed, "There are a total of three bedrooms, so that leaves another one empty."

"I guess I can room with these little guys," Yamcha says with a grin while placing a hand on Goku's and Krillin's heads.

"Fine," Krillin grumbled, pushing away the hand and walking into the closest room. "I'm going to put my luggage away for now."

"Good idea," Chiatzu said with a smile as the others followed Krillin's example.

Goku, being content with leaving his single bag on the couch, turned to Bulma with an excited smile, "Can you show me how to use the Gravity Room already?"

* * *

Kami sat silently on his chamber, his eyes narrowed in thought as he regarded his other half, Piccolo, who was standing before him.

Truth be told, he expected some sort of fight when he first came to the lookout, but that didn't appear to be the case, and he didn't know what to make of it.

Piccolo was the reincarnation of the evil he had freed himself from long ago; all of the evil that had consumed him on Earth. So why was it so difficult to get a good grasp at what the quiet Piccolo, who had not said much since coming to the temple, was attempting to gain from seeking him out.

He had said that he wanted a place to train, and even kept to his word so far. Training for hours and then taking a small break, only to immerse himself in meditation for another few hours.

Kami knew that this uncertainty needed to be cleared, which is why he called for him to come resolve this once and for all.

"You have been here for a few days now, yet I don't know thy it is that you came. Could you tell me?"

Piccolo remained silent, eyes trained on the older Namekian until he finally nodded.

"There is something," he said and gripped his chest, "Something that won't leave me alone no matter how much I meditate. At first I thought that by training my mind I would be able to control it, but these thoughts are only coming back stronger."

"Thoughts?"

"More like memories," Piccolo corrected. "I know what I am, or _who _I was, but I don't feel like _him _at the same time." He looked at his hand with a cloudy eyes, "You're the only one who can help me do something."

Kami narrowed his eyes, "Help you do what exactly?"

"I..." Piccolo trailed off before he clenched his fists, "I don't want to become **him**."

The guardian of the Earth remained silent.

Of course he had kept an eye on Piccolo after he'd been reborn, and expected that the time would come when Goku would put an end to both of their lives, it was what – after fighting Bardock – he was training him for, but he had never expected for Piccolo to become attached to a couple of nice people. It was unfathomable really, for his evil self to have goodness within him, and yet here he was; staring at him as though he was his last chance.

"There is a place that could help you," Kami began. "It can help you clear your doubts and face your demons to give you clarity. However, it is very dangerous to be there all alone. Not even Goku, my old pupil, could withstand it."

Piccolo's eyes filled with hope and he nodded firmly, "If there is even a small chance, then I'll do it."

Kami smiled and stood up, "Then follow me to the Time Chamber."

* * *

After getting a quick rundown from Bulma, who then went on to teach Tien to use it, everyone was in their training gear and warming up in the gravity room. Goku's tail danced eagerly as the boy stretched out his back and clenched his fists in preparation.

"Gravity Room, huh?" Yamcha grinned confidently, "I hope it's as good as Goku's making it out to be."

Tien hummed in reply as he looked over the controls and began to push a couple of buttons, "I'll set it to 10 times Earth's gravity for now."

As soon as the gravity was set everyone – with the exception of Goku who had trained at that gravity before – doubled over from the unexpected force.

"T-This is crazy!" Krillin exclaimed as he slowly managed to push himself into an upright position.

Yamcha bit his lip as he forced his body to stay standing and looked to Tien, "I know, this is a lot more than we expected. How are we supposed to train if we can't move? Tien, you should turn down the-"

The desert bandit stopped himself when he saw that Goku was already punching and kicking at the air, fluidly moving even in the strain of the gravity.

"Dammit!" Yamcha exclaimed as he too began to punch and kick at the air, not wanting to be outdone or drag his friend down.

The others shared the sentiment and willed their bodies to work under the strain.

* * *

Mr. Popo could not hide the worry in his face as he watched Piccolo step into the Time Chamber and the door close behind him.

It was too risky. Even now he could still see Goku flinging the door open with a crazed look in his eyes...

"I understand your worry Popo," Kami said with a calm in his voice, "But this is for the best. Piccolo is not like Goku, he needs to be alone to truly find himself."

"I hope you're right Kami."


	17. Alone

**Dragon Ball Kai**

**Chapter 17**

**Alone**

Gine flies through the bright blue skies of Earth with a big sense of worry.

It has already been three weeks since she last saw her youngest son and - while she decided to do as Bardock said and give Goku some space - she needed to see him herself. She needed to talk to him and tell him that she was also worried about Mara but that going to Planet Vegeta was way too risky.

Maybe it was a long shot, but they could try to find Mara after she was exiled, that way they would not cross Planet Vegeta and end up fighting thousands of Saiyans.

Gine looks down to see Capsule Corp, its giant yellow building being very hard to miss, but before she can land on the front entrance as usual, she notices a big circular machine out back. It resembles their Saiyan Pods a lot so she decided to land next to it instead.

At first she expected to see Bulma working on it, but instead she's met by Dr. Brief, Bulma's father who she's only met a couple of times.

"Oh Gine, you're here at just the right time. I was just about to contact you," he says in his usual casual tone. "The ship's all ready."

"I see..." she nods and looks around but finds no sign of Goku, or Bulma for that matter. "Sorry, but I need to talk to Goku."

Dr. Brief raises an eyebrow in surprise, "Goku? He and Bulma already left for space around two weeks ago. I thought you already knew that."

"What?!"

"Yup, they some some of their friends too. I asked her to bring me anything interesting from the planet they're visiting. I think they called it Planet...Vegetable! That's it!" He chuckles and shakes his head, "They're quite adventurous."

Gine stands there, paralyzed, unable to even breathe until her body reminds her. "They left two weeks ago..." she repeats to herself as horror spreads across her face.

"That's right," Dr. Brief nods, oblivious to what Gine was feeling. "Bulma designed the ship and we built it in under a week. Since we were short on time we couldn't make it run much faster, but I got to do that on the one she asked me to prepare just in case you and your family wanted to use it."

"And you said it was ready?"

He smiles in response, "All done. I was adding a killer sound system just now, figured it would make the training room better if it could play music."

Gine is barely listening and is already floating in the air before she speaks, "Okay. I'll be right back."

With that said she shoots to the sky and flies as fast as she can.

Her youngest son is on his way to Planet Vegeta.

Just the thought filled her with fear. Goku is strong, yes, but he wouldn't be able to stand up to so many Saiyans at the same time, even with his friends offering support. She knows that he's stronger than a lot of Saiyans, but the Royal Guard is said to be made up of the strongest Saiyans in the planet. It wasn't until a few years ago that Bardock was offered the title - though he declined since he didn't want to be stuck around the palace all the time - which means that Bardock was not even strong enough to join them until a few years ago.

Gine bites her lip and presses a button on her scouter. At first there's no response and when she's about to press again, she hears Bardock's voice at the other end of the line.

"What is it?"

"Goku is on his way to Planet Vegeta!"

"What? There's no way, he doesn't have a ship."

She shakes her head even though he can't see her. "He got help from Bulma and she built a ship. I don't know how they got the coordinates but they're on their way now."

"When did they leave?" Bardock asks, his voice a lot more serious.

"Two weeks ago."

"Dammit! We'll be there too late if we leave now."

"Bulma's father prepared a ship for us and said it was faster than the one Goku's using."

There was a brief pause before he answers, "Fine, I'll go see it and if it really is faster then we'll use it."

"Okay, I'm on my way now to get a few things and then I'll take you to Capsule Corp."

"Alright," Bardock responds and, hearing the worry in her voice, adds in a firm voice, "We'll get him back safe Gine. I promise."

The mother nods as a couple of worried tears roll down her face.

* * *

Mara never did like getting out of Saiyan Pods.

Not because of how cramped they were – though that certainly didn't help – but because it was always the moment in which all of the pressure to excel would hit her the hardest. There were a couple of times when she didn't do that well in a mission that her father had been furious and threatened to banish her. Even with all that weight constantly on her shoulders she always thought that one day it would go away, one day when she finally made her family proud.

That day is not today however.

Mara can hardly breath as the uncomfortable weight of Planet Vegeta's gravity hits her the second she emerges from her pod. Her heart beats rapidly against her chest and she can't even make sense of what her brother is saying to Turles and Cumber, but sees that they fly off the landing platform.

"Move your feet," Vegeta snarls as he grabs her wrist tightly, drags her a couple of steps, and then forces her to match his speed as he flies off.

Mara doesn't say anything, knowing better than to provoke her brother and because she can't muster the strength to speak.

Planet Vegeta was supposed to be her home, but everything from the red sky to the rugged rocky terrain felt cold and unwelcoming. Even the city in the distance with its many buildings tinted in the red of the sky felt odd to her. She didn't remember ever thinking like this before – though that didn't mean that she thought of the planet as a home – but now she realizes that she never felt safe in her home planet at all.

It wasn't nice, and bright, and peaceful; but the opposite of all those things.

Mara can feel tears forming in her eyes but she closes them quickly to stop them from falling, and desperately wishes that the sky would be blue when she opened her eyes again.

* * *

The palace, along with buildings near it, were quite grand when compared to the rest in the city.

Vegeta led Mara through a grand corridor that led into the palace, numerous tall and thick pillars surrounded it and gave a view of the distant wasteland. Since Saiyans were not ones to break tradition, the palace was pretty bare except for the things they did have use for.

Mara turned her gaze away from the surroundings and instead looked down, wordlessly letting her brother lead her through the palace with a tight grip on her wrist. She felt like she was about to faint, nothing could ever prepare her for the meeting she was about to have with her father. At this rate she can't even think about how she'll be able to live through talking with her father.

It's only when Vegeta abruptly stops – still on the corridor to the palace – that Mara looks up in confusion and wishes she hadn't done so almost immediately.

Standing at the grand doors into the palace was her mother dressed in her usual attire, the royal battle armor with a blue and white cape, a black undersuit, and white gloves and boots.

"Hello Mother, my task was a success," Vegeta says with a small smirk.

The Queen nods and then looks to Mara. "You may leave us Vegeta, I have to talk to her."

Vegeta nods and finally drops his hold on her wrist which is already turning purple. Mara rubs it carefully, keeping her eyes away from her mother in a desperate attempt not to talk to her.

"Your father has told me all about what you've done," the Queen said in a disapproving tone. "I don't know where you went wrong, but I cannot defend you this time."

Mara fells shocked at first, but then it turns into bitterness as what her mother said sinks in.

_This time._

As if implying that she had ever tried to help in any way. Her father might be the one to put the most pressure on her, as well as the most vocal about his discontentment with her, at least he was direct. Mara could never tell what her mother was thinking, she was cold and distant, truly only ever there for Vegeta.

She would never forget the time she accidentally overheard one of her mother's off-hand remarks about how disappointed she was that they had _'another bad one,' _when she and her father were discussing one of her missions.

"Mara," the Queen says in a firm and loud voice, snapping Mara out of her thoughts. "What have I told you before? You are to look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you." She frowns and shakes her head, "By not meeting someone's eyes, it shows how weak you are. You're being submissive, like a low-class. Though I suppose it's to be expected after you've been surrounded by those lowbrow traitors for the past few months."

"...don't..."

Hearing her daughter talk for the first time, the Queen steps a bit closer, "What was that?"

Mara grits her teeth, "Don't..."

"Speak clearly," the Queen scolds, "Stop acting like those-"

"Don't talk about them like that!" Mara snaps, her face flushed in anger. "They're not traitors! They're my friends and I won't let anyone talk about them like that!"

The Queen takes an involuntary step back, shocked by her daughter's sudden outburst, but she sobers up quickly and slapped her across the face, causing her to fall to her knees from the blow.

"That is no way to talk to your mother," she scolds and motions for the two guards at the gates, "Take her to the King."

"At once, Queen Kale" the two reply with a bow of their heads.

Mara doesn't try to resist as they grab her by the arms and lead her into the palace. At least now she has one less thing to worry about, not that facing her father made her feel any better.

* * *

The doors to the throne room where big and – like the walls and floors around her – a very dark color. She remembered wondering why the palace was so dark before, but now that was the least of her thoughts when she noticed that her brother was waiting by the door with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

He said nothing as the doors opened and she could see her father sitting on the throne with a scowl on his face.

She stood there, frozen, as the room spun around her and she swallowed a lump in her throat. It wasn't until someone lightly pushed her forward that she realized that they were waiting for her to move. So, through shaky steps, she entered the throne room and stood before her father with her gaze on the floor.

Exile or death, she knew that either of these were the punishments for what she did.

Death was pretty self-explanatory but exile was a lot more complex. They didn't just give you a ship and ask you to leave, they drugged you and left you to wake up all alone in some unknown planet. Of course, whether she was lucky enough to be left in a planet that was capable of space travel was mostly due to luck. Even if she was that lucky, there was no way for her to make it back to Earth.

Saiyan space pods were given its coordinates by whoever the Saiyan in charge of the mission was, and she – like a fool – did not even think to ask Bardock. Even if she somehow got her hands on a ship, it would be almost impossible to find her way back to Earth without the coordinates. In other words, she would never go back.

Mara bites her lip and almost flinches when she feels the immense pressure of her father's eyes on her.

"I have been too lenient with you in the past, but no longer," King Vegeta said, his deep voice showing no hint of emotion. "Betraying your own race is an unforgivable act, and if you so wish to stay away, then you will be branded a traitor and exiled from this planet."

"In one week, you will be removed from our planet," the King finished and turned to his royal guards, "Take her to a holding cell."

It takes all of her strength to keep her knees from giving our under her. She's even relieved when the guards grab her arms and take her away.

* * *

Finally alone, laying on the uncomfortable bed of her cell, Mara looks at the ceiling through murky eyes.

It was something she expected, something she prepared herself for, but it did nothing to soften the blow. Her family didn't care that she was being banished, they were okay with never seeing her again, and that hurt. It really hurt.

She hugs herself and lays on her side, facing the wall to cover the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Not for the first time today, she wishes she was back on Earth. Goku had been annoying at first, but now she wishes she could be with him because she really can't handle this all on her own.

A cold breeze washes over her as she drifts off to sleep all alone in a planet where she has no one.


End file.
